The Forgotten Squad
by Lexi Nol
Summary: A Mass Effect based story, expanded and derived from a role play with friends. The story follows the adventures of a squad of N7 marines, based on the Normandy under Shepard's command, whose stories up until now have been forgotten. The main characters are all OC's but they will interact with canon characters.
1. First Impressions

Author's Note: This story is set during ME3 and will follow the adventures of three N7 marines assigned to the Normandy. At the start it is assumed that Omega is still under Aria's control with Cerberus trying to establish a foothold there.

* * *

Shepard stopped to collect her thoughts before entering. Two weeks. They had only been here two weeks and they were driving Shepard to distraction already. She knew that sitting around and waiting for the other marine to turn up was not what they had expected but there was little option. The types of missions that she was going to send them on were going to be dangerous, with low survival odds, and she had requested a squad of specialists for that very reason. She needed them to work as a team, needed to be able to leave them to their own devices, needed to be able to give them every opportunity to beat the odds.

What she had got though was two N7 marines who, after fighting on the front line, were now bored with being idle and that boredom led to trouble. And that trouble was mainly between the two of them. She frowned reflecting that they would have been in here a lot sooner if she had found evidence that it was them that had raided the nest and snaffled her whiskey. But EDI had informed her that all monitoring devices had been expertly hacked and that there was no way of tracing the perpetrators.

Added to that, the way these two had been going at each other over the past two weeks, it was almost impossible to think that they would have worked together to achieve something like that. If Shepard had thought it was them she would have been impressed with both their ingenuity and their team work. Or at least she would have been if she hadn't been so pissed at the loss of her whiskey.

Shepard took a deep intake of breath before she strode into the brig her face set impassively. The two marines both looked up, curious to see who had entered, and Shepard had to bite back a grin when she watched them both almost fall off their bunks in their haste to get up and stand to attention. Her trained eye also didn't miss the look that passed between them, a look she recognised. Perhaps they did have the makings of a squad after all she thought to herself.

She left them standing there as she looked at them, pleased to see that neither of them flinched under her gaze. When she had requested a team the Alliance had been reluctant at first. N7 marines were tough, natural leaders, highly trained and highly sort after. But they had, with some persuasion, seen the wisdom in her request and had sent her detailed dossiers of all the N7 marines currently in action.

Anderson had been surprised at the three she had requested. All three had disciplinary proceedings, for disobeying orders, outstanding against them. But Shepard knew that sometimes _not_ following orders was the only way to get things done and she wanted marines who were willing to do that regardless of any consequences.

It had been unfortunate that all three had not been able to arrive together, but arranging transport was complicated at the moment. These two had been on the Normandy's route, unfortunately the other marine wasn't and they couldn't spare the time to collect her. Shepard had hoped that the other two would have been able to keep busy and out of trouble in the meantime. However that was something that apparently neither of them was good at.

Shepard turned her gaze to the shorter of the two, Lexi, the weapons expert and who had a worryingly good affinity with explosives, according to her dossier. She was sporting a very swollen, and very black eye. It was swollen shut, Shepard knew from experience that it would be more than a little uncomfortable. She turned her gaze to the redhead, Kelly. She was taller, thinner and held herself proudly, her confidence oozing out of her. Kelly was a hand to hand combat expert and, looking at Lexi's eye, her skills weren't exaggerated Shepard thought with a wry smile. She was also a whiz at all things technical. Shepard was pretty certain that if she had wanted to Kelly could have had them out of the brig in no time at all.

The missing piece of this jigsaw was Karrigan, due in later today, she was a sniper expert and more importantly the team medic. Highly trained her skills as a medic were almost as good as Chakwas and, on more than one occasion, it had been her expertise that had got her and her squad home alive. Shepard would be relieved when she arrived and she could finally send them out, mind this time they had been out under orders and still somehow they had ended up fighting. She ground her teeth together in frustration.

"_I expected more of you two."_ her voice came out harsher than she intended.

Lexi remained silent, her face showing no reaction to the words but Kelly couldn't help herself.

"_We were just..." _she broke off as Shepard's gaze bore down on her.

"_Reinhart, Kelly Reinhart. Your last commander said you liked to talk."_ Shepard activated the cell door and waited as it silently slid open. She stepped in and stood nose to nose with Kelly "_I don't like excuses"_ Kelly had the sense to bite her tongue this time and Shepard reassessed her opinion of her, there weren't many who would hold their nerve when faced down by her, this girl obviously had a very cool head.

She stepped back towards Lexi "_I told you to go to Omega and carry out some recon. I did NOT tell you to go to Afterlife and get in a bar fight."_

Shepard gripped Lexi's chin and turned her head forcibly so she was looking directly at Kelly "_What were you thinking?" _she boomed. As Kelly started to answer Shepard scowled and Kelly realised that the question had been rhetorical, she snapped her mouth shut wisdom prevailing.

Through her contact with Lexi's chin she felt her start to shake. She turned to look at her, when she saw that Lexi was straining not to laugh Shepard's look was one of incredulity, where had she found these marines? What had she let herself in for? People laughing at her was not something Shepard was use to "_Something amusing you marine?" _she snapped.

"_Yes ma'am, I mean no ma'am." _Lexi stumbled over her words hurriedly in an attempt to rectify her mistake.

She released her chin, shaking her head as she did so her "_Captain, not ma'am."_

"_Yes ma'am."_ Shepard glared at her "_Sorry ma'am, I mean yes Captain."_

Shepard's gaze shifted to Kelly, who had actually spluttered as she tried to bite back her laughter at Lexi's predicament, Shepard sighed, muttering under her breath "_Oh goddess help me with these two." _

Determined to have the upper hand in a conversation that seemed to be spiraling she changed tact "_Tell me you at least got what we needed..."_

Kelly gulped back her laughter to answer "_Not quite Captain."_

"_Not quite?"_ her tone was low, ominous and for the first time since Shepard had entered both marines looked embarrassed, perhaps even worried and Shepard couldn't help but smirk at their discomfort.

"_No Captain. We were close when.."_

"_More excuses"_ Shepard cut her short

"_More an explanation Captain."_

Shepard looked at them both "_You have an hour before your last squad member arrives. You,"_ she pointed at Lexi "_go see Chakwas and get that eye seen to. You..."_ she turned to Kelly "_go and get the rest of that information."_

Both marines snapped salutes at their Captain as she turned and walked out of the brig.

"_Well ain't she a darlin'."_ remarked Lexi.

Kelly turned to her grinning crookedly "_Did you see her face when you started to laugh?"_

Lexi grinned back, and Kelly walked over to her giving her a gentle shove "_Come on we've got our orders and I for one have had enough of the brig. Off to medbay with ya."_

"_Yeah, yeah. Oh and next time can you at least pull your punch."_

Kelly looked at Lexi's eye and grimaced "_Yeah...sorry about that but that Turian had made us. We needed a distraction."_

"_I get that but really hitting me? You couldn't have hit that rather nice Asari you had hanging off your arm?"_

"_Hell no. Did you see how hot she was?"_

Lexi shook her head "_You are incorrigible."_

Kelly's answer was another crooked grin as she followed Lexi out of the brig.

Kelly walked with Lexi to medbay, lost in thought about how to retrieve the information Shepard wanted.

"_Oi! Are you even listening?"_

Kelly gave a sharp intake of breath as she felt a jab in her side "_Yeah." _she replied unconvincingly, having no idea what Lexi had been chattering about. At times, she thought that girl really did waffle.

"_So what did I say?"_

"_Ummm..."_

"_I knew you weren't listening. You never listen to me."_

Kelly just flashed that crooked grin at her.

Lexi sighed "_And there it is...that grin. I'm assuming you think that will get you out of this?"_ when Kelly didn't reply, Lexi mumbled softly "_Well don't think for a second that's gonna work on me."_ The words sounded hollow even to her.

Oblivious to Lexi's rumblings, Kelly stopped as they reached medbay, "_Well this is your stop. Off you go."_ she waved in the direction of a very busy looking Chakwas.

"_Blimey you really weren't listening to me were you?"_

Kelly at least had the decency to look a little sheepish. "_No...not really."_

Not at all Lexi thought, "_I was saying that perhaps I can see Chakwas later and come with you instead..."_

"_Can you even see out of that eye?"_

"_Well..."_

"_That's what I thought. You need to see Chakwas, and I haven't got time to wait so off you go."_

"_But..."_

"_Lexi go."_ Her tone made it clear that this wasn't up for debate. "_I'll be fine. And anyway I'll probably get in less trouble without you tagging along."_

"_Oi!" _

"_What?" _There was that grin again thought Lexi. "_I will be fine and if Chakwas sees to you quick, you can always come find me. Here, I'll set the locator on my omnitool and link it with yours. That way you can when you're done." _ Kelly grabbed Lexi's arm and activated both of their omnitools. After a few seconds she looked up at Lexi clearly confused "_You have a cloak?"_

"_Yeah."_

"_Do you use it?"_

"_Yeah...kinda odd not to when I have it."_

"_But I thought infiltrators used them."_

"_They do."_

"_But infiltrators use sniper rifles."_

"_And?"_

"_Don't you use a shotgun?"_

"_Yeah."_

"_Well why..."_

"_Seriously Kels? I thought you were in a hurry."_

"_Oh...yeah...right." _she went back to her task "_Bit weird though."_

_"What's weird?"_

_"The whole cloak, shotgun thing."_

Lexi sighed heavily "_Really?"_

Kelly didn't reply, her attention now fully focused on their omnitools. Thirty seconds later she was done "_There, sorted."_

Lexi deactivated her omnitool and looked up at Kelly "_Ok...as long as you're sure you'll be alright."_

"_Course I am."_

"_Right." _she glanced into medbay, her reluctance at going in clearly visible"_...guess I'd best go see Chakwas then."_

"_Good luck with that. Oh and that cloak conversation so isn't over."_

_"I figured as much." _Lexi grumbled as she entered medbay. Chakwas turned to see who had entered, her face clearly showing her displeasure at the state of Lexi's eye she wasted no time in berating her.

Kelly chuckled to herself at Lexi's comment. Her chuckle turning into a wince when she heard Chakwas's exclamation at Lexi's eye. "_I so don't envy you that girl."_ she whispered quietly.

Before she moved on she accessed her omnitool to ping off a quick message. When she looked up she saw Lexi sitting on the edge of one of the biobeds. As she stood there she saw Chakwas ask Lexi something, Lexi didn't reply instead turning her gaze to look at Kelly. Chakwas followed Lexi's glance and caught Kelly's eye "_Fuck...Lexi you so just dropped me in it."_ She smiled back not wanting to risk a grin and decided that now was a very good time to leave.


	2. Lay of the Land

Kelly made her way to crew quarters where she quickly changed. She pulled on some black cargo pants, a nondescript shirt and a light jacket before sitting on her bunk and tugging her combat boots on. Happy that none of her clothes had any Alliance markings or insignias on she strapped her pistol to her thigh and went to leave when her eye caught something . A grin spread across her face as she saw the last missing piece of her disguise. Placing one hand on her bunk to steady herself she leant down and picked up the fedora that was sat on the floor at the end of her bunk. She left crew quarters and headed out into Omega twirling the hat in her hand before settling it on her head at a jaunty angle.

Omega was busy, then again Omega was always busy. The hustle and bustle of everyday life was everywhere you looked but today things felt slightly different. Walking in Omega was always a little risky, although Aria ruled with an iron fist there were still gangs of low level thieves and pickpockets who ran through the markets and wards. But this unease was more than that. Things felt edgy, nervous, tense. There were undercurrents of unrest rippling through the streets. Kelly could only assume this was due to the presence of Cerberus. Somehow they had got a small foothold in one of the outlying wards and everyone knew it was only a matter of time before things erupted between them and Aria. There was no way she was going to take their intrusion lightly.

Shepard wanted to know what Cerberus was up to, especially as there were rumours circulating already about their intentions. Primarily it had come to the attention of the Alliance, through back channels and some dubious sources, that Cerberus were buying huge quantities of weapons and explosives on the black market and amassing them on Omega. As the reliability of this information was in question, Shepard had wanted it investigated. But she was already tasked to trying to recruit Aria to the Alliance cause, so she had delegated responsibility to Kelly and Lexi leaving her free to use what little time she had available to negotiate with Aria.

In addition to that, a much more solid source, The Shadow Broker, had given Shepard a lead on a high ranking Cerberus officer who was due to arrive in Omega in the next couple of days. He was to oversee the transport of a prototype fighter ship. Ideally they wanted to intercept both the officer and the ship but more up to date information was required to achieve this.

Kelly and Lexi's first orders had been to pinpoint Cerberus's exact location, then scout and map the area. They had been in Afterlife securing the information with their informant, when things had taken a twist and got complicated. Although undercover they had been made by a Turian. Kelly was unsure which one of them that he had recognised but things got out of hand quickly and they had needed a distraction. In hindsight perhaps hitting Lexi hadn't been the best option but it had worked and they made it clear with both their informant and the location.

Unfortunately Shepard had been with Aria when the distraction had occurred and as a result had witnessed the entire event. On their return to the Normandy they had been unceremoniously thrown into the brig on Shepard's orders. Shepard was not happy. Not the most auspicious start to their time in Shepard's command Kelly reflected as she made her way through Omega.

Kelly forced her way through the crowds towards the markets. Omega was a place where it was both easy to stand out in the crowd and easy to fade in to it. Today was definitely a fade into the mire day, Kelly did not want attention today and she knew exactly how to avoid getting any. The trick was not to be timid, not to try and avoid contact with people. It was to be firm, direct. No flinching if someone bumps into you, no being afraid of gently shoving someone out of your path or using your elbows to make youself a little more room. Omega was an in your face kind of place and the best way to navigate it was to adopt the attitude of those that lived there. Brash, bold maybe even a little cheeky. All traits that Kelly had no problems with at all, all traits that Kelly had in spades.

She moved quickly using those exact tactics. A friendly push to move someone along, a nudge with an elbow to move them aside but never so much as to annoy or offend. All interspersed with an occasional, casual flash of that crooked grin if someone started to look a little riled. The tactics paid off beautifully and she made her way easily and without incident.

Kelly stopped and stepped back into a dark recess, something Omega was full of, turning her back on the crowds she accessed her omnitool her fingers dancing lightly over the controls. "_Yes"_ she said quietly when she found a response to the message she had sent earlier. She checked the message. It was a partial access code, Kelly keyed in her half of the pre-agreed code and was rewarded with a rendezvous point where she would be able to meet up with her informant from earlier. She checked her location happy to see it was no more than ten minutes away. Shutting her omnitool off she turned back into the crowds and continued on her way.

* * *

Lexi entered medbay and was immediately accosted by Chakwas "_Sit there and don't move."_ Lexi recognised that tone. It left no room for argument so she did as she was bid and sat down on the edge of the nearest biobed.

Chakwas picked up a scanner and began to assess the damage to Lexi's eye, holding her head still, her touch light but firm. A scowl on her face she then started to gently prod along Lexi's cheek bone. Lexi couldn't help but groan softly as Chakwas hit a particularly sensitive spot.

"_And you did this how exactly?"_ the doctors tone was clearly one of exasperation.

"_I... umm...ow!"_ Lexi grumbled back as Chakwas hit another tender point.

Chakwas stopped and looked at her "_You're one of the new N7 marines aren't you?"_

"_Yes ma'am. Soldarn, Lexi Soldarn"_

"_I thought so. So Lexi how did you do this..." _she poked the same spot again.

"_Blimey Doc!" _Lexi exclaimed, the only reason she remained sitting and didn't leap up was that the Doc was still holding her face. Seeing Chakwas just looking at her she realised that she wasn't going to continue until Lexi had answered "_I got punched."_

"_I presumed as much. Should I ask why or who?"_

Lexi didn't answer but her good eye looked out of medbay and straight at Kelly who was stood outside accessing something on her omnitool. Kelly looked up and Lexi suddenly realised her error as Chakwas turned and followed Lexi's gaze. Chakwas made eye contact with Kelly who clearly mumbled something before smiling and making a hasty retreat. Lexi couldn't help but grin as she watched Kels go, not so tough as you like to make out huh darlin' she thought.

Chakwas sighed "_Tell me you at least weren't sparring."_ she snapped as she turned back to Lexi. The grin wiped off her face Lexi didn't have a chance to respond before the Doc continued talking "_the amount of injuries that I have to deal with because you marines think that sparring is a clever thing to do. Not content with fighting Cerberus and collectors, oh no, you have to then fight each other." _ She continued on lecturing Lexi on the hazards of sparring and the waste of her time but Lexi was no longer listening. She had tuned out as soon as Chakwas had begun to chunter. The same point at which it was clear that she wouldn't be leaving here any time soon


	3. Not Quite to Plan

As Kelly neared the rendezvous point she slowed, her eyes scanning the area as she tried to find her contact. He wasn't there. Kelly cursed silently, a scowl on her face. He should have been there by now. He should have been waiting for her. She hadn't wanted to meet him here but she needed the access pass he had procured to infiltrate the ward that Cerberus had occupied. And now that she was here, she really didn't want to be. This was not a good place for a meet.

The area was a junction, a crossroads in the marketplace, with paths and alleyways heading off in all directions. It was also busy, heaving in fact. "_Stupid"_ she said it a bit louder than intended causing a passer by to look at her quizzically, she ignored him and he carried on past. "_Stupid"_ she repeated this time softly under her breath. The sheer number of people combined with all the different routes of approach there were, made it impossible for her to find a vantage point that gave her a clear view of everything. If Lexi had been there they may have been able to cover it between them. But on her own, Kelly sighed, not likely.

She knew that she had got there without being followed but whether her contact would or not was another matter. And with all the different routes into the area it would be impossible for her to know when he did finally surface. Alarm bells were going off in her head, her senses and her combat training telling her this was all wrong. This area would have worked if she was meeting a group and they could secure it but her contact was working alone.

He was a regular informant for the Alliance and as such had had a full background check carried out on him. He was a loner who was always on the look for some quick credits. His information to the Alliance, while low level, had always been reliable. Up until now that is. But, and this was a big but, from what Kelly had seen he was clearly an amatuer and was playing at this to fund his habit. And as an amateur that left Kelly with two huge looming questions. How would he get here without a tail and how the hell had he got such highly classified information.

Her scowl deepening Kelly knew that regardless she had no choice, they needed this information and they needed it badly. As she continued to look around the area her eyes settled on a food stall off to one side. It wouldn't have perfect views, and a couple of the approaches were completely obscured, but it was the best that she had to work with.

She approached the stall and sat down on one of the bar stools on the far side of the stall, next to a Vorcha who was happily eating a rather dodgy looking dish. Her position gave her a direct line of sight to the rendezvous point. All she could do now was sit, wait, and hope for the best.

The owner of the stall, a Volus who could barely see over the counter, asked her for her order. Not wanting to appear out of place she ordered a glass of water and a plate of the special. When it arrived a few minutes later she looked down at it and wondered what the hell she had ordered. Picking up a spork, the only utensil that was available, she took a tentative mouthful whilst the Volus watched. She chewed slowly and nodded in appreciation. The Volus grunted happily and turned his attention to another customer. As soon as his back was turned Kelly spat the food out onto the floor much to the amusement of the Vorcha that was sat next to her. "_Oh goddess, what was that?"_

The Vorcha didn't answer, except with what Kelly could only assume was a smile full of sharp spiky teeth and a low rumbling growl that sounded like it may have actually been a laugh. He nudged her drink towards her and she took the hint, picking up her glass and taking a huge mouthful to wash the taste away. The Vorcha sat staring at her plate "_Do you want this?"_

He nodded "_Fine by me"_ she pushed her plate across to him taking his empty one in exchange. She cringed as he started to happily devour whatever it was that was on her plate. Focusing her attention back on her surroundings Kelly placed her glass back down, her eyes scanning the area never settling on one area for too long. Five minutes passed, then ten before she caught a glimpse of her mark. Her shoulders tensed, her hand automatically moving to her thigh so her gun was at her fingertips.

He entered the crossroads from the same direction as Kelly had and he was moving fast, his arms flailing as he knocked people aside in his rush to get through. Kelly leant forward slightly to get a better view. He was sweating, flushed, breathing heavily and had a look of wild panic on his face. He was also holding one of his hands in a fist, clenching something tightly, his knuckles white from where he was holding on so hard.

Kelly's eyes flew back behind him to see what had got him so spooked. Following him at a run where a squad of Cerberus troops and they weren't taking prisoners in their pursuit of him. Bystanders who didn't have the sense to move out of the way, were unceremoniously and roughly brushed aside. Fortunately most had the good sense to move. Kelly bit down on her lip aware of the danger that was heading straight at her, her gaze flashed back to her contact at the exact moment that he looked her way and their eyes met.

Kelly grimaced "_Trickster curse it, don't..."_ she mouthed at him, shaking her head slightly to emphasize her words, but it was too late. In a complete blind panic he changed direction and headed straight at her. Her heart dropped when the Cerberus troops changed direction too having clearly spotted that he was headed right at her. She stood up abruptly her bar stool hitting the floor as she kicked it back and away. Then as her contact closed in on her a single shot rang out. The man cried out and fell forward as the bullet hit him in the back of the neck. As he hit the floor his fist opened and the contents skitted out across the floor, unseen by anyone but Kelly, landing just to her side and in the shadows of the stall. Glancing down quickly she could clearly see that it was the access card.

A Cerberus troop shouted at her to kneel on the floor with her hands behind her head. Fleetingly she thought about fighting, running, but she knew there was no hope. There were too many of them and, as she looked around, there were way too many bystanders. It would be a massacre if she opened fire.

"_What me?"_ she asked stalling for time. as she spoke she activated her omnitool sending a distress ping to Lexi. She shut her omnitool off using a heavily encrypted algorithm ensuring it would be difficult, if not impossible, to hack if Cerberus took it.

Suddenly a bullet whizzed by her ear, barely missing her."_I said on your knees."_ he growled, stating his intent plainly.

Cursing she dropped to her knees, when she did so an idea popped into her head. As she dropped down she leant forward and lightly jolted her head so her fedora fell off. It landed next to the card.

"_Leave it"_ shouted the troop as her hand reached out for it, appearing to be trying to pick it up. She hid her grin of satisfaction as what she had actually done was nudge it away so it covered the card. "_And put those hands on your head now." _the trooper was obviously losing patience.

Kelly complied, raising her hands to her head, as the trooper came round behind her and pushed the muzzle of his gun into the back of her head.

"_I haven't done anything."_ she said defiantly.

"_Quiet."_

"_But..."_ she stopped abruptly as she heard the click of his safety being flicked off.

The trooper leant down and relieved her of her pistol looking at it closely as he did so. "_Just what I thought. A Paladin, Alliance issue and spec. And he was running straight at you. Exactly how stupid do you think I am?"_

Kelly couldn't resist "_Well as you asked..."_ her words were silenced as the butt of his pistol connected with her temple and the world exploded into darkness.


	4. New Recruit

"_There you can open it now but slowly, it will probably be a bit light sensitive."_

Lexi opened her eye. She didn't know what Chakwas had done exactly but the swelling around her eye was reduced considerably. Following the instructions carefully, even N7 marines knew better than to ignore the doctor in charge, Lexi opened it slowly, cautiously. It took a few seconds but eventually the blurriness subsided and she found herself looking eye to eye with Chakwas.

Before she had a chance to speak Chakwas jumped in "_It's going to be sore for a few days and maybe a bit watery but there's no permanent damage. I've reduced the swelling and sealed the hairline fracture along your cheekbone but you will have to live with the bruising. Do not let anyone hit you again,"_ she paused " _at least not for a couple of weeks. Though knowing what you marines are like..."_ she trailed off not needing to say more as her face clearly said everything.

"_Thank you ma'am. I promise I'll avoid sparring." _ Lexi replied cheekily

"_I give up."_ Chakwas said despairingly although Lexi could see that she was trying not to smile "_Oh and it's Doctor."_

"_Sorry what ma'am?"_

"_You called me ma'am. It's Doctor."_

Lexi would have rolled her eyes if it didn't hurt. First Shepard and now Chakwas. Did no one appreciate good manners these days "_Sorry Doctor, it won't happen again." _cause I am never going to call anyone else ma'am ever again.

"_Good now go and I don't want to see you back here again. Especially not for fighting with another marine." _ Chakwas turned away heading to her desk.

Dismissed Lexi lowered herself off the biobed and left medbay, activating her omnitool and checking the time on her way. She frowned, she had been with the Doctor for the best part of an hour which meant Shepard would be expecting Kelly and her in just a few minutes.

"_You'd better be back Kels...Shepard's pissed at us already"_ Lexi chuntered as she double timed it back to crew quarters expecting to find Kelly there "_Crap! Where the hell are you?"_ Checking her omnitool she activated the location link that Kelly had set up. It clearly showed that Kelly was still on Omega and by the look of it in the market ward and stationary. "_Kels what are you playing at?" _

As she stood looking at it a communication came through from Shepard requesting her presence in the shuttle bay "_Damn it" _ Lexi left crew quarters hot footing it down to the shuttle bay.

* * *

The troop watched as the woman hit the deck hard, he raised his gun to finish the job.

"_Stop!"_

Recognising the voice as that of his commander he stopped squeezing the trigger and looked up "_Sir?"_

"_Dead people can't talk." _the approaching officer snapped "_You've killed one already and we need information." _Looking at the body on the floor he started giving orders "_Search his body for identification then leave it there as a warning to those who think they can cross Cerberus"_ he raised his voice so everyone in the immediate area could hear "_Cerberus will NOT tolerate traitors, punishment will be forceful and not always so pleasant.." _he snarled. His point made he continued giving orders "_And take her back to base"._

The troop saluted and set about the dead body, coming up blank. "_There's nothing, Sir."_

"_Nothing?"_ The officer cursed and crouched down, he grabbed Kelly's hair lifting her head roughly back so he could look at her closely, she was still unconscious "_Hmmm...it seems that you and I are going to have a very interesting conversation."_ He growled before letting her head drop back to the floor "_Let's go. Now!"_ he stood up and strode off. He stopped in his tracks as something occurred to him "_You" _he pointed to one of the other troopers "stay here. Let's see if anyone turns up to find her. Anyone starts asking around track them and contact base. Understand?"

"Yes Sir" the trooper looked around and found himself a safe place to observe from, in the shadows, out of sight. What he didn't realise though was that a certain Volus was peering out over the food stall counter listening to everything, watching everything. He had liked the human girl, she had eaten his food politely even though he knew it was not something most humans could tolerate.

The Volus continued to watch as two of the troopers approached Kelly. They grabbed an arm each and dragged her away, ignoring the discarded fedora.

* * *

Lexi stepped out of the lift to be greeted abruptly by Shepard "_Where's Reinhart?"_

"_Still on Omega Captain."_

"_Still?"_

"_Yes Captain."_

"_Shouldn't she be back by now?"_

"_Yes Captain. I was just going to go and find her when you requested my presence."_

"_Chakwas has cleared you for duty then. Good."_

Lexi realised that Chakwas hadn't said anything of the sort but she held her tongue. Kelly not being back by now didn't sit well. Lexi needed to go and find her. She stood with Shepard waiting until the shuttle had finally finished powering down. There was a low hiss and the shuttle door opened, and a N7 marine stepped out.

Lexi, her training coming in to play, assessed her quickly. She was as tall as Kels, but had a slightly heavier build. Her eyes were drawn to the gun on her back. Seriously was that a black widow? Lexi raised an eyebrow. There were few marines, hell few anyone's, who could handle a black widow. Heavy and un-wielding they packed an incredible punch when fired and as such required a high level of both strength and skill to be effectively used. A black widow in the hands of an expert was a killing machine. A black widow in the hands of less was a death sentence for the handler or, if they were lucky, a broken shoulder from the recoil. Maybe, Lexi mused, just maybe this marine would be useful.

Lexi's attention turned back to the marines face, her expression was unreadable "_Interesting" _ she said the word out loud without thinking, a glare from Shepard silenced her.

The marine stepped off the shuttle, a kit bag in each hand and walked towards Shepard. She let go of her kit bags letting them drop to the floor then standing to attention snapped off a smart salute "_Marine O'Connell reporting for duty, Captain."_

Shepard nodded in acknowledgement "_This is Marine Soldarn. She'll show you to crew quarters and then you need to report to Doctor Chakwas."_ turning to Lexi Shepard continued "_After you've shown her to medbay go and find Reinhart."_

"_Yes Captain."_ Lexi said trying not to show her frustration at having to baby sit the new marine, not when Kelly was still out there alone on Omega.

Shepard left abruptly leaving the two marines alone. Lexi turned to O'Connell "_Don't worry she's normally much more abrupt than that."_ she grinned "_Well then let's get you settled, Oh and it's Lexi."_

O'Connell just looked at her clearly assessing her. Lexi stepped forward leaning down to pick up one of O'Connell's kit bags but before she could, O'Connell snatched them both up "_I'm good."_

"_Ok..."_ Lexi said, thrown a little she tried again "_Right like I said I'm Lexi. We store our weapons and armour down here. We've each got our own workbench. That's Kelly's in the corner, I'm next to her leaving the nearest one for you."_ she said indicating the bench "_though you probably don't want my stuff on there now."_

Lexi picked up her shotgun and cleaning gear, then wiped her arm across the workbench to clear it of any debris "_There ya go all yours."_ she said as she put her stuff down on her bench.

Nodding O'Connell approached the bench and pushed one of her kit bags back under it before starting to unload her weapons. First came the black widow, then a harrier assault rifle, an Eagle pistol and finally a combat knife. When she finished she turned back to Lexi and stood there expectantly. It occurred to Lexi that so far this day wasn't going as expected, especially not this. This marine was hardly what you would call chatty, standoffish was the word that sprang to mind.

She pushed aside the groan that was threatening to make itself known and made her way to the lift "_Right let's go then..."_ Lexi left the sentence hanging, the question of O'Connells name obvious , or at least she thought it was. Thankfully she was rewarded with an answer.

"_Karrigan."_

"_Cool...well then Karrigan be my guest."_ she grinned, relieved that she had finally got a name and waved Karrigan into the empty space beside her in the lift.

Karrigan picked up her other kit bag hoisting it over her shoulder and stepped in. Lexi's hopes for any conversation were dashed as they rode the lift in silence. She stepped out and led the way to crew quarters. She pointed out an empty bunk as she sat down on hers, stifling a sigh as she did so. She watched as Karrigan started to unpack, still saying nothing. She was grateful when a ping on her omnitool gave her a distraction.

She activated it hoping it was from Kelly. It was, but it was not what she wanted to see, she stood up quickly banging her head hard on the bulkhead above, she let off a colourful train of expletives.

Karrigan turned to her a look of surprise on her face "_You ok?"_

"_Fuck it no. Do I look or sound okay?"_ Lexi snapped as she rubbed her head. She saw a flash of rage cross Karrigan's eyes at Lexi's response but it was gone as soon as it appeared replaced by that unreadable, detached look from earlier. Lexi relented, kicking herself for her response "_I'm sorry. Its just that was Kelly and I need to go."_

"_Kelly?"_

"_Kelly Reinhart, the marine Shepard mentioned. I don't have time to explain I have to go. I'm sure you can find your way to medbay we passed it coming here."_ Lexi started to leave, concern clearly etched on her face, only to be stopped by a hand on her shoulder.

"_She's in trouble?"_

"_Yes and I don't have time for this. That was a distress ping she wouldn't do that unless she was in serious trouble_" Lexi shook off Karrigan's hand "_I have to go."_

"_I'm coming with you."_

"_You've got direct orders from Shepard to see Chakwas."_

"_I'm coming with you. Chakwas can wait. Kelly's our priority."_

Lexi looked at her and saw the determination on her face, there was no point trying to argue with her, Lexi was impressed but didn't show it "_Fine. But don't blame me if Shepard and then Chakwas kick your ass for this."_

Karrigan grinned "_No problem."_

Oh boy Lexi thought another one that's gonna be trouble, her omnitool pinged again as Kelly's distress ping repeated. Lexi couldn't help but grin back "_Ok...let's do this then."_


	5. On The Trail

As they walked through Omega people cleared a path for them. Silent glances were exchanged and all races stepped aside and out of their way. They were armed to the teeth and suited in unmarked armour that had obviously seen action, and lots of it. Even the inhabitants of Omega knew that this kind of mercenary was best avoided. Mercenaries without allegiance were the worst kind. With nothing and no one but themselves to fend for, they were normally quick to fire and slow to talk. Added to that the survival rate of these types of mercs was low unless they were good, unless they were deadly.

"_See" _Lexi said under her breath "_I told you unmarked armour was the way to go. We are threatening without having to be threatening."_

Karrigan's response was short "_I like being threatening."_

"_I see that."_ Karrigan's face was set in a stony expression that even Lexi would have avoided if she could have done, however she was stuck with her, "_Well let's try not to cause too much trouble ok? Shepard's not happy with Kel's and me already."_

Her comment was met with silence "_Great" _she grumbled as they headed towards the last location they had for Kelly.

They had left the Normandy as quickly as they could, stopping only to suit up and grab their gear. Karrigan had started to put on her N7 armour but Lexi had stopped her, and they had opted for their second sets. These sets were unmarked, free of Alliance markings. They weren't supplied like the N7 sets, instead the marine was told to buy themselves a set of black market, unmarked mercenary sets. Personally Lexi like this set more than her N7 set, she had chosen a set of light armour that was perfectly tailored to her needs. Looking at Karrigan's set she had gone the heavy armour route. Both sets look liked they had seen plenty of action.

Weapons wise Lexi had her shotgun strapped to her back, her pistol strapped to her thigh and a flick combat knife. She had highly modified it to her own design, and was tucked in her boot. On a whim she had also picked up an SMG which was now hanging down from her weapons pack. Karrigan had her collapsed Black Widow and her Harrier assault rifle side by side on her back. She also had a pistol on her hip and a combat knife hidden away in the small of her back. Karrigan as well carried a compact, but well stocked, medkit in her weapons pack. They meant business and that was all too clear to see.

Checking her omnitool Lexi continued to lead the way fretting that it had already been a good thirty minutes since she had received Kelly's message.

Stopping she spoke quietly to Karrigan "_The rendezvous point is five minutes that way._" she nodded to indicate the direction "_Think we'd best tread carefully. We need information and if Cerberus has a high presence round here the locals are going to be reluctant to talk." _Karrigan said nothing merely raised her eyebrow and then continued on purposefully.

Lexi followed her cursing under her breath "_Damn it, why do I think this is going to get ugly..." _she didn't see Karrigan's wry smile as she heard Lexi's comment through the comms link they had set up.

* * *

Kelly came to with a groan. She was lying on a cold, steel bench "_Oi... my head"_ she said groggily. She sat up slowly, the room seeming to tilt slightly as she did so. "_Oi..."_. For a few minutes she just sat there, her hands tightly gripping the edge of the bench as she tried not to throw up from waves of nausea washing over her. When the world finally stopped tilting she let go of the bench and raised her hand tentatively to her temple. When she drew it back, her hand was slick with blood "_Oh that's not good."_ she moaned softly.

Taking in her surroundings as she did a slow sweep of the room, her situation became clear, all too clear. She was in a small cell, maybe ten foot square. Three walls were made of the same construction as the bench she was sat on, cold solid steel. Whilst the fourth wall shimmered with what was obviously some type of forcefield.

Standing slowly, one hand on the wall to steady herself, she moved across to the forcefield. It occurred to her that she would have been able to hack it if she had her omnitool, but she had known as soon as she come to that it was gone, that Cerberus had taken it. Without thinking she reached out and touched the shimmering wall. It sent a sharp jolt through her body throwing her backwards off her feet. She landed heavily on her backside, the air expelled from her body with a loud omph as the wind was knocked out of her.

She leaned back against the cool, metal wall as she tried to get her breath back "_So not good"_ she said haltingly.

* * *

Karrigan covered the ground fast, she didn't know Kelly but she did know Cerberus rather too well and, knowing what they were capable of, that gave her incentive to move. She could hear Lexi moving quickly behind her trying to keep up. She was chuntering under her breath. Karrigan wondered if she ever shut up and prayed that stealth wouldn't be required as getting Lexi to be quiet was, so far, nigh on impossible. Suddenly she stopped, finding herself at a crossroads.

Lexi drew up beside her and checked her omnitool "_This is the place."_

They both looked around taking in the scene in an instant. "_She was meant to meet someone here?"_

Lexi nodded "_Yeah."_

"_Oh..."_

"_Yeah...not great huh?"_

Right now the area was, on the whole, deserted. Which, considering how busy Omega had been up until now, was more than a little disconcerting. There was some movement as stall holders were starting to get back to their business but there was little else going on. Perhaps the most disturbing part of the scene though was the dead body left untouched off towards one of the stalls. No, thought Lexi, it wasn't the dead body that was disturbing it was the fact that no one was even acknowledging that it was there.

"_Yeah."_ Lexi repeated her eyes still on the corpse "_This is definitely the place. Let's split up, ask around. See what the locals can tell us"_

She noticed out of the corner of her eye that Karrigan had her hand on her pistol. Lexi understood why, but right now that wasn't the way to go. As hard as it was, they needed to try and keep a low profile. Or this could turn into a bloodbath, and that was not something that Lexi was going to allow to happen "_And let's not draw attention to ourselves."_ she looked meaningfully at Karrigan's hand.

Karrigan glared back at her but complied moving her hand as she walked away from Lexi, heading to where it appeared the dead man would have run from.

"_Well I'll go that way then"_ Lexi said sarcastically.

As Lexi moved off she could hear Karrigan's conversation, through her comms, with the stallholders she had approached. They were obviously wary, but at the same time they had a story to tell and they wanted to tell it. The combination of a few credits when they looked unsure of whether to continue, along with Karrigan knowing all the right questions to ask, meant that they were giving a very detailed and hopefully, very accurate, account of what had happened. Lexi's interest was piqued when they got to the part where the man saw something that made him change direction and head to the food stall that the Volus kept across the way.

"_I'm on it._" Lexi whispered. Looking around she spotted the stall they were referring to, and walked over taking a seat. Karrigan continued to talk to the stall holders but they had no other useful information as, in their own words, they had scarpered as soon as they had heard the gunshot.

A pair of nervous eyes peered up over the counter at Lexi "_What can I get you Earthclan?"_

She grinned "_Don't suppose you have whiskey?"_

His breathing mask rattling he moved away, returning with a shot glass and a small bottle filled with an amber liquid with a label she didn't recognise. He placed the glass down and poured her a tot. She picked up the glass and pushed a pile of credits towards him, a lot more credits than the drink cost "_I'm looking for someone..."_

Another rattle followed as he breathed in deeply "_I didn't see anything."_ the waver in his voice was plain to hear and a clear giveaway. He went to push the credits back, but Lexi placed her hand over his stopping him.

"_I'm looking for a human. Female. She's got short, red hair. Taller than me, and thinner. I know she was here."_ her voice was low, menacing.

His eyes flicked across, just momentarily as Lexi described Kelly, to where Kelly had sat. The Vorcha's empty plate of food and the rest of Kelly's drink were still on the bar. Lexi drank the whiskey in one, trying not to gasp as it hit the back of her throat.

Then turned her attention back to the Volus "_She's my friend. If Cerberus have her I need to find her, and I need to find her fast. Do you understand?"_ She spoke quietly so only he could hear "_Did Cerberus take her?"_

He still didn't speak but Lexi could see the panic in his eyes as she mentioned Cerberus and something else. Fear. "_Are Cerberus still here?"_ If she hadn't been looking at him directly she would have missed the slight incline of his head as he confirmed that they were. He pulled one credit back to him and Lexi took the hint "_Just the one huh? Where?"_

Rattling again as his breathing quicken his gaze turned to an alleyway behind her, off to the left. Lexi bit back a growl "_I've got company"_ she muttered "_One. Cerberus. Alley. My left."_

"_I heard. I'm on my way."_ Karrigan's reply was instant "_Don't move."_


	6. Interrogations

"_Don't move...great idea. Why didn't I think of that?" _she chuntered back. Looking at the by now very jittery Volus she made a decision "_Another whiskey. That stuff was good."_ she nudged her glass back towards him. He poured her another glass, she lifted it up and took a sip "_So damn good."_

"_More whiskey? Really?" _ came a scornful voice over the comms. Lexi smiled to herself as she watched Karrigan approach. They didn't acknowledge each other. Karrigan covered the last part at a run and then Lexi heard the thud of a body slamming into a wall as Karrigan tackled the hidden troop.

Over her comm she heard a grunt and then a groan followed by a scream of pain that was cut off short, presumably by Karrigan.

There was a voice, male. The words were strong but the voice was shaky "_Fuck you bitch"_ Lexi winced knowing the kind of reaction that would get from any marine. Karrigan didn't disappoint.

The tone of her response sent chills down Lexi's spine "_Give me the info I need and this will stop"_ the words were cold, calculated and the meaning of the word 'stop' was all too clear.

The next thing Lexi heard was a sickening crack as a bone broke "_Ouch."_ she said under her breath not wanting to think about what bone it was.

Karrigan spoke again "_Don't you fucking move you piece of shit."_

"_Are you going to be long?"_ Lexi asked cringing as she listen to the beating and the whimpers of pain coming from the troop.

"_Five minutes. He's about to break."_ Karrigan's voice was strained from the effort of her task but Lexi frowned as she also sounded like she was enjoying it.

She drank the rest of her whiskey as the Volus backed away, shaken by the noises that could be heard from the alleyway. She couldn't blame him, it didn't make for pleasant listening.

This was not how she would choose to do things but, time was short, they needed that info and Karrigan seemed more than happy to extract the information by force. Lexi's lip curled in distaste though, this was so not how she wanted to be forced into handling things. Unfortunately Cerberus had Kelly and every second counted. "_We haven't got five minutes." _The words stuck in her throat as she knew what she was condoning.

Karrigan, upon hearing Lexi's words, pushed her knife deep and slow into the troops leg twisting as she did so. On top of the beating and the broken arm that was hanging limp at his side, it was too much and he broke telling her everything. How they had caught Kelly, where they had taken her, who the commander was. He told her everything at a hundred miles an hour at the same time as he begged her to remove her knife, as he begged her to let him go.

"_Thanks buddy."_ she drew her knife out, the relief in his eyes evident that the ordeal was over and that she would release him. His relief was short lived as she turned the knife idly in her hand before plunging it hard and fast into him hitting the spot just below his sternum and going clean into his heart. Karrigan pulled it back out and let go of him, watching disinterested as he slid down the wall, his life slipping away. She leant down wiping her knife clean on his uniform before standing up and walking away.

She stepped out of the alley "_Come on Lexi I got what we needed. He was a tough little bastard but I am meaner."_

Lexi nodded "_Yeah you were mean."_ Standing up she started to move away when she spotted something out of the corner of her eye. "_Is that..." _There was something tucked back in the shadows under the bar. Lexi stepped closer then bent down and picked it up revealing what looked like a security access card underneath it.

"_You clever, clever girl" _she said with a grin on her face. She twirled the hat in her hand then attached it to her weapons pack and stood there, still grinning, the card in her hand.

Karrigan looked at her quizzically "_You're happy because you have a new hat?!"_

"_It's Kel's hat." _she replied "_and the security card that she was here to get. She left us a way to find her. So let's go get our girl."_

* * *

Catching her breath Kelly finally slowly pulled herself upright, using the bench for support as she did so. She was perched on the edge of it getting her bearings when she heard a noise. She looked up to see a Cerberus commander standing just the other side of the forcefield. He smiled in a predatory manner but Kelly was not going to be intimidated, she pushed herself up off the bench, standing straight and tall. Her head held high as she looked at him, praying that her legs didn't betray her and wobble. This was not a time to show weakness.

At this obvious defiance his smile turned into a sneer. Kelly gave him her best crooked grin, even though it was the last thing she felt like doing. Her stomach was sinking at the mess she was in, but there was no way in hell that he was going to see that.

She watched as a troop came in at a run stopping and handing the commander a datapad. His face darkened with rage, he glared at her then turned and left. Kelly gave a soft, audible sigh of relief, her shoulders sagging slightly. She had no clue what had just happened, or why, but she was more than happy to have a little more time before she had to deal with Cerberus head on.

She knew she needed to focus, get her head straight and more than anything get her balance again. Lexi should have got her message, Kelly thought. And if so she'd be on her way, but if not, she needed to be able to hold her own and find her own way out.

Problem was that right now the blow she had taken to her head seem to have sapped her strength, leaving her feeling weak and nauseous. Knowing she had to try and get control she started to pace up and down the cell. The size of the which meant that she had to do an about face on every fourth step. With something to focus on her head slowly started to clear and her movement became more certain.

* * *

Lexi didn't move even though her last words had been let's go. She stood there frowning, looking at the card knowing she'd missed something. "_Think"_ she mumbled to herself "_Come on...there's something else I know there is..."_

Karrigan, having started to walk on turned around when she realised that Lexi hadn't moved. "_What the fuck? We're in a hurry... remember?" _

Ignoring her Lexi looked at the card "_I know there's something we're missing." _she scanned the card with her omnitool "_That's it!"_ she exclaimed a look of triumph on her face.

Karrigan didn't want to ask but did anyway intrigued "_That's what?"_

"_That's our way in."_

"_We knew that already."_

"_Well yeah but this is our way in the back door not the front door."_

Karrigan ground her teeth in frustration "_Lexi just spit it out and stop waffling."_

"_Oh...right...sorry. This access card is also a Sky car card. Our contact didn't just get us an access card to the base. He got us a way in without us having to deal with any security."_

"_What?"_

Lexi sighed "_Really? That wasn't clear?"_

"_No." Karrigan snapped "I wouldn't have said what if it was. How does it get us through security?"_

"_Ok, ok...calm down. We put this in the console of a Sky car and it will take us to the destination, in this case Cerberus's headquarters. It gives directions and access codes so we will clear security without even having to stop. Only their top brass would have one of these...no wonder it got him killed"_

Karrigan had stopped listening at the clear security part, not caring once about any more. She snatched the card off Lexi and marched off towards the nearest Sky car.

"_Oi!_" Lexi shouted.

Karrigan shook her head and grinned at Lexi's indignation "_Come on let's go...oh and I'm driving cause you've been drinking."_

"_You're what, cause I've been what?"_

"_You heard. Now get in."_

Lexi climbed into the passenger seat grumbling about the fact that she wasn't driving. Ignoring her, Karrigan slotted the card into the car and they set off.

* * *

Still pacing Kelly patrolled her cell "_One, two, three, about face...one, two, three, about face...one, two, three, about face_" she wasn't sure how long she had been pacing but if felt like forever "_One, two...Gods above where the hell are you Lexi?"_

The hum of the forcefield suddenly stopped, Kelly snapped her head round to find herself face to face with the Cerberus commander. He had three troops stood just behind him.

"_Hi there. Remember I was here did ya? So nice of you to come and join me." _The commander didn't answer. Undeterred Kelly continued "_So what can I do for you on such a fine day?"_ she folded her arms as she addressed him her eyes trailing up and down his body "_Tips on what to wear perhaps? I'm not sure that uniform is doing it for you."_

The commander smiled and snapped his fingers. The troops moved fast. Kelly put up some resistance but she was outnumbered and still not steady on her feet. She did take some satisfaction from putting one of the troops down though. The combination of a very sweet punch to his chin, followed by a sweep of her legs had him hitting the deck.

It was to no avail though as the others grabbed her, pinning her arms back behind her and pushing her down to her knees. She watched as the third trooper picked himself up, he looked at the commander who said nothing.

Taking that as permission the trooper stepped up and back handed Kelly hard, splitting her lip. Kelly gasped and spat blood out at him only to be rewarded with a fist in return. They all heard her nose crack as his fist connected solidly with it_._

"_Fuck you"_ she said as her eyes watered and blood streamed down from her nose. She watched as the trooper raised his fist again ready to strike her. The commander stopped him grabbing his wrist and pulling him aside before he could throw his punch "_Enough. I need her to be able to talk. You can have more fun here later."_


	7. Stirring Up Trouble

The sky car landed in a secure compound, the journey being exactly as Lexi had predicted with all security checkpoints passed without incident. Karrigan hadn't said a word since they had started their journey and Lexi, on edge with the silence, couldn't hold back any longer "_See I told you it would get us in."_

Karrigan still didn't answer though she did roll her eyes at the I told you so sentiment. She scanned the area. There were several clusters of Cerberus troops stood round casually chatting, obviously feeling safe this deep in their compound. Lexi missed the wicked grin that crossed Karrigan's face as she saw what easy targets they were. Before Lexi could say anything else Karrigan had activated the door and exited the sky car, dropping to one knee and equipping her assault rifle as she did so. The troops didn't even look round.

"_What the fuck are you doing?"_ Lexi hissed fiercely as she hastily pulled the access card out of the Sky car and stowed it in a pocket.

Lexi wasn't sure if Karrigan didn't hear or if she just choose to ignore her but whichever it was didn't matter because Karrigan's next action changed everything. Pulling two explosive incendiary grenades out of her weapons pack she pulled the pins and lobbed them both. One went arching towards a group to their right, the other into a group directly in front of them. Lexi watched incredulously unable to prevent the mayhem that Karrigan had just launched them into. A fraction of a second before they detonated, with devastating effect, Karrigan grinned "_Lexi you ready?"_

"_Bit fucking late to ask that!"_ Lexi growled back at her infuriated with this approach.

"_Yeah well you gotta be on your toes..."_ Karrigan chuckled then launched herself into the fray. Standing up she ran at the scattered troops, taking out any that were still standing before they could arm themselves and finishing off any that were injured and might prove a threat. They regrouped quickly though and she soon found herself under return fire. She ran, then slid along the ground positioning herself behind some metal storage crates.

Lexi initially watched, stunned at what Karrigan had done, stunned and angry. But there was no time for that now "_For fecks sake slow down"_ Lexi cried out as Karrigan moved forward. She grabbed her shotgun and took out the two troopers who had got in behind Karrigan "_Watch your back girl!"_

She was rewarded with another laugh "_That's what you are here for" _Peering around the edge of the crate Karrigan took down two more troopers with pinpoint accuracy.

Lexi slid into cover beside Karrigan wanting nothing more than to kick her ass "_Covering you" _she snarled "_is not what I am here for. I am here for Kelly and your reckless, stupid behaviour is gonna get us all fucking killed if you don't dial it back a bit"_

"_Oh keep your panties on"_

It took all all Lexi's willpower not to shoot Karrigan right there and then.

* * *

Kelly knew she was in serious trouble. With her head spinning and nausea threatening it was all she could do to stay upright. In fact if the troops hadn't got such a tight grip on her arms she was under no illusion that she would have face planted by now, leaving her in a pathetic heap on the floor.

After the Commander had stopped the troop from hitting her he had them pull her up onto her feet. Resisting at this time was a waste of effort, Kelly knew she had to conserve her energy for just the right moment. So for now she focused on not being sick, on not falling down. It wasn't as easy as it sounded.

The commander gripped her chin firmly, painfully in his hand and leant in close so she could feel his stale breath against her face "_We can do this the easy way or the hard way. Which would you prefer?"_

He slackened his grip slightly allowing her to reply "_Well that's hardly original but to answer I'd hate anyone to think I was easy..."_

This close she could see his anger, at her response, all too clearly and from the way his fingers dug back into her chin she felt it too. She didn't let her eye contact with him drop not wanting to appear weak or scared. His anger faded into a malicious grin, his eyes hard "_Good, I do like doing things the hard way"_

Kelly didn't react to his words. She stood there passively, held up by the troops on either side of her. Her face blank, her mind racing with the same thought, over and over again, Lexi where are you? About now would be good.

Suddenly the room shook as there was a loud explosion, the Commander released his hold of her "_What the?"_

Kelly grinned, regretting it immediately as her nose throbbed in pain, another second explosion rang out and Kelly could hold back no longer "_Hey Bozos! Time's up"_

The commander glared at her and gave quick orders. He sent the third troop, the one that had hit her, off to investigate what had happened before turning back to Kelly. He drew his pistol and placed it against her forehead, Kelly didn't move, didn't waver, her face didn't even acknowledge the action or the threat.

"_I knew it"_ he said triumphantly "_An Alliance operative and from your calm manner a very highly trained one"_ he lowered his gun "_if you had reacted to that it would have been the last thing you ever did but now...now I know exactly how valuable you are you are coming with me. Bring her"_ he ordered the guards. They manhandled her none too gently as they followed the Commander "_We need to get to a shuttle and get out of here" _

Kelly bit her split lip as she listened to the gunfire outside. "_Lexi" _she murmured "_I sure as hell hope you bought some help"_

* * *

"_I thought you were going to help."_ Lexi grumbled as, in turns, they picked off the Cerberus troops from behind the safety of the crates.

Karrigan laughed "_I am helping."_

"_You have a funny fucking idea of helping" _Lexi muttered under her breath "_Damn it we can't just sit here all day." _she snarled and poked her head out over the top of the crate only to have Karrigan yank her back down just as a bullet whizzed through the space where her head had been.

"_There helping see, though what the hell were you thinking doing that?" _

"_Just looking."_ Lexi retorted "_Annoying huh? when someone does something unexpected and stupid."_

Taking a pot shot at an approaching troop Karrigan's answer was short "_Yes that was stupid."_

Lexi leaned back against the crates as Karrigan continued to hold the troops at bay "_They look to be defending the building on the far side of the compound, which suggests that's where we need to be"_

"_And how exactly are we going to get across that open ground with all those troops between us and it?"_ Karrigan asked.

"_Well if you had given me a chance earlier I would have told you that I had a cloak"_

Karrigan threw a confused look at her "_You have a cloak?"_

"_Yeah"_

"_You're an infiltrator?"_

Lexi turned and shot the nearest trooper taking out his kneecap and leaving him writhing on the floor "_Yes"_

"_But..."_ Karrigan said looking at the gun Lexi had just used "_you use a shotgun. Don't most infiltrators use..."_

Lexi cut her off "_Really? You too? First Kelly and now you. What is so complicated? Yes I have a cloak, yes I use a shotgun" _

"_Ohhh...have I hit a sore point?"_ Karrigan chuckled.

Lexi glared "_Oh my god...can we just work our way out of the mess you got us in and discuss this at a more appropriate time?" _she didn't wait for an answer "_I'll cloak and head over there, find a way into that door"_

"_Fine"_ Karrigan replied "_but exactly what are you going to do when you get there? Knock on the door all politely and wait for someone to open it?"_

Lexi couldn't help but grin "_Well I could do that, or I could see if our access card will open it. But if you want me to knock first..."_

Karrigan shook her head in despair "_Whatever. You go...I'll take some of these troops out and give you cover"_ as she spoke she grabbed a grenade and threw it over the far side of the crates going off with an almighty boom.

Lexi, who by now was accessing her omnitool, jumped as it went off "_Fuck...a bit of warning would have been nice" _

Concentrating on clearing the area Karrigan didn't answer just smiled to herself. "_Lexi" _she mused as she tried to find a clear line of sight on the approaching troops "_it would be useful to have a higher vantage point. Then I could use this baby and do some serious damage"_ she stroked her black widow reverently as she spoke.

"_Ok"_ said Lexi with a raised eyebrow at the way that Karrigan had referred to her gun "_I'll see what I can find"_


	8. Nearly There

Karrigan watched as Lexi activated her cloak, it shimmered and settled into place giving an almost perfect cover. If you knew where the person was when they activated it you could just see a slight haze at the edges of it but you had to really look for it and in battle it would be nigh on impossible to detect. Karrigan was impressed but didn't admit it. She was even more impressed when Lexi moved, the cloak had a limited dampening field and that combined with the way that Lexi moved meant you heard nothing and after a few seconds Karrigan could no longer distinguish where she was. She shook her head in surprise, stealth was so not something she had expected from Lexi.

"_Fuck"_ Lexi hissed as she dodged out of the way of an approaching trooper.

"_Oi! Thought you were covering me?"_ a voice came over the comms, Karrigan flushed in embarrassment at her lapse of concentration. Focusing she took out the trooper that she assumed was causing Lexi difficulties "_I am covering you"_ she snapped back in an effort to hide her embarrassment.

Lexi didn't answer as she ducked into a passageway off to the right, it was only about a third of the way to her destination, but she had spotted something and wanted to check it out. Slipping into the shadows of the buildings she dropped her cloak to preserve the power and made her way slowly and silently down the passageway. Seeing two troopers just ahead of her she readied her shotgun. They were standing either side of a doorway, Lexi was unsure if they were guarding something or were avoiding the ongoing firefight that was going on behind her.

Either way Lexi made a decision, she closed in on them fast keeping to the shadows and took the first guard down cleanly with a kill shot to the head. The other guard instantly turned and fired in her direction, Lexi dived low aiming and shooting his knee as she dived. The trooper hit the floor hard, screaming as his knee shattered from the close range shot. Now on her knees a second shot through the heart silenced him.

Standing Lexi approached the door, opening it hesitantly. It led into what appeared to be a dark, empty cupboard. Lexi frowned there must be more than that she thought, she stepped in her gun at the ready. She activated a light on her omnitool and found herself looking at a ladder, she tilted her head back to see how high it went but her light ran out before the top "_Interesting" _she muttered.

Moving outside she crossed to the far side of the passageway and looked up, she found herself looking at what appeared to be a water tower. Grinning as she recognised this as a perfect spot for Karrigan to cover from she contacted her and quickly explained what she had found. She then sent a ping to Karrigan's omnitool to give her the exact location. Activating her cloak again she headed out unaware that as she did so two troops were just entering the far end of the passageway.

* * *

There was another explosion "_Oi guys"_ mumbled Kelly thickly through her broken, bloody nose "_hazard to say my friends are pissed"_

The commander turned and gave Kelly a hard backhanded slap for her insolence. Her nose started to bleed profusely "_Shut the fuck up or I'll knock you out and drag you to the shuttle"_

Her head hanging as blood dripped from her nose Kelly used all her willpower to keep quiet but not before spitting a mouthful of blood across his shoes and trousers. Enraged the commander yanked her head up pulling hair out as he did so "_You are gonna pay for that later" _he growled viciously, his look leaving little doubt that he was going to enjoy his revenge. He let go of her hair but she didn't let her head drop instead maintaining eye contact a look of disinterest on her face.

"_Keep her moving"_ he said as he turned away "_If she resists you know what to do" _

Knowing that the last thing she needed to help her cause was to be unconscious Kelly stopped resisting and allowed them to lead her into what appeared to be a cargo hold.

* * *

Cloak activated Lexi quickly navigated her way to the door, killing the last two troopers by it quickly and efficiently. Looking back towards Karrigan's hiding spot she scanned the area between them before dropping her cloak "_We're clear. I'm gonna see if this access card can get me in. You head up that ladder and find a spot to give me some cover"_

Karrigan responded by moving out of cover and heading to the passageway that Lexi had cleared earlier. As she approached it she cursed "_Damnit Lexi I've got two bogeys here. Gotta take care of them before I can get in position to give you cover"_

"_You need help?"_

"_No you're good, just makes sure the area stays clear whilst I deal with these two." _Leaning around the corner she aimed and fired at the nearest trooper taking him out but not before he managed to fire off a round. It ricocheted off her shields but, after the gunfire she had already taken, it was enough to cause her shields to collapse. Before she had a chance to access her omnitool and reset them the second trooper fired the bullet ripping across her right side "_Oomf...you bastard..."_ she hissed through gritted teeth. reaching for a grenade she pulled the pin and threw it, grunting in pain as the action pulled her side. The trooper had no chance the grenade detonating at his feet and tearing him apart.

Taking a moment to steady herself Karrigan leant back against the wall her left hand pressed tight to her side "_Lexi, I'm all clear. Heading up now"_ Her words were breathless, strained.

"_Are you alright? You sound..."_

"_I'm fine. Stop fussing. Just short of breath after that tussle. You get inside and I'll find a spot to snipe from."_

"_Ok...if you're sure"_

"_Stop fussing"_ Karrigan repeated "_and get moving"_

"_Fine"_ Lexi snapped back, pulling the access card out as she did so "_Please work"_ she whispered as she swiped it across the security panel. For a split second nothing happened and Lexi resigned herself to having to do this the hard way. Then a green light flickered and she heard the distinctive click as the door unlocked. "_Karrigan it worked I'm heading in"_

Karrigan grunted in response as she slowly and unsteadily climbed the ladder. Gritting her teeth she ignored the pain and continued up.

Lexi slid the access card back into her pack and then, with her shotgun firmly held in her right hand, she grabbed hold of the door handle and pulled it open only to find herself face to face with a trooper "_Crap"._ Luckily for Lexi due to their close proximity the troopers instinct was to throw a punch, unluckily for the trooper that was not an instinct that Lexi shared. She let go of the door her hand flying to steady her shotgun. As his fist connected with her already black eye she fired her gun "_Fuck! Chakwas is gonna kill me" _she cursed as his fist collided into her, any response from the trooper was blown away as her shotgun caused his face to disintegrate "_Dumb ass...gun beats fist"_

Ignoring the pain coming from her side Karrigan pushed on, climbing the ladder as fast as she could manage. Eventually it led her outside and to the top of the water tower. Keeping a low profile she crawled into position finding a perch that gave her clear line of vision on the building Lexi was infiltrating. Pulling out her black widow she made herself as comfortable as she could and scanned the length of the building until she had a fix on the door Lexi had entered "_Lexi I'm in position. Ready when you are"_ her sights roaming the area she caught a glimpse of an enemy sniper. She grinned "_Ok baby let's show these fuckers what we can do_" her sights trained on him she neutralised him with a single shot to the head "_Booja!"_

Shaking her head as she head Karrigan's commentary over the comm Lexi headed into the building checking off each doorway and room as she went. Everywhere was empty, abandoned and that made her uneasy "_Karrigan I've got nothing and I'm running out of rooms. Tell me you've got our girl in your sights..."_

Karrigan moaned softly as she repositioned to get a better view of the end of the building "_I've got eyes on the main room at the end of the building, it looks like a cargo hold. I can't see...wait...I've got her. Well I assume it's her...tall, thin with short red hair"_

"_That's her"_ Lexi made sure the room she was in was clear before she made her way to the last door.

"_Wait she has company"_ _Karrigan warned._

"_Well obviously...how much company?"_

"_Two troopers, no three. A third has just joined them and what looks like a Cerberus commander. Shit they are bundling her towards a shuttle we need to move now!"_


	9. Nothing's Ever Simple

**A/N **Well I'm still here and still writing but it seems that no one is reading. So I guess that leaves me with two possibilities. 1. My writing is crap, or 2. the story is crap. Uh..oh... just thought of a third possibility...My writing _and_ the story are both crap *head hits desk* ROFL.

Luckily I have something of a stubborn streak and will persist for a while longer... so if you are reading...enjoy! Lol

* * *

As they approached the shuttle Kelly began to struggle in earnest, knowing that she need to buy Lexi more time to find her. The two troops that held her forced her down to her knees. The third trooper ran in from behind them, his assault rifle in his hand, he very quickly gave the Commander an explanation of what had happened. As he spoke Kelly grinned "_Told ya they were pissed."_

The Commander driven to his limit said two words to the trooper "_Silence her." _ _The trooper, an evil grin plastered on his face, turned to her. He raised his gun and moved to slam the butt of it into Kelly's head. His action went unfinished as a shot rang out and with devastating precision the back of his head exploded into fragments, brain and gore splattering both Kelly and the troops either side of her._

"_Oops...sorry Kelly, that probably wasn't the best way to introduce myself"_ Karrigan muttered over the comm forgetting that Lexi could hear.

"_What did you do?"_ Lexi said as she charged into the room only to witness the removal of the other two troopers heads "_Oh...gross"._

As she moved closer she watched as Kelly fell forward stopping herself with her now freed hands. Kelly quickly moved one hand to stem the blood that was still flowing freely from her nose "_Fucking a"_ she mumbled through the blood.

Seeing that she wasn't going to get to her quickly enough Lexi yanked her SMG free of her weapons pack and threw it across the floor to Kelly "_Kels"_ she yelled, earning her the attention of both Kelly and the Commander.

The Commander on seeing Lexi turned his gun on her, thinking that Kelly was the lesser threat, and began firing his pistol. Lexi threw herself to one side, grinning as she did so as she recognised his error "_Never underestimate a marine"_ she thought with satisfaction.

On hearing Lexi's voice Kelly's head had snapped up, to see an SMG hurtling towards her. She caught it expertly and, as the Commanders attention was diverted onto Lexi, unloaded it into his chest and groin. As he fell Kelly sat down heavily and then laid back on the floor as she tried to catch her breath.

Lexi sighed in relief then pulled herself upright and made her way over to Kelly kneeling beside her "_You okay?"_

"_Peachy"_ Kelly said as she started to heave.

Lexi picked up her SMG, clipping it back on her weapons pack, and grinned "_Guess you didn't need saving then..."_

Kelly didn't deem that worthy of an answer, instead she sat up and put her hand out to Lexi. As Lexi grabbed her hand and helped her up a voice piped up over the comm "_Ahh Lexi we have a slight problem. Mechs. Four of them. Headed your way"_ Karrigan held her breath and then fired "_make that three" _

"_Mechs huh? Great"_

"_Who are you talking to?"_ Kelly asked "_and who took out those troopers?"_

"_That is our new, hot headed, reckless marine Karrigan O'Connell. But introductions can wait, right now we need to get you out of here and patched up"_

Kelly was intrigued by Lexi's description of Karrigan but knew better than to push for more details now "_No arguments here"_ Kelly groaned as she leaned heavily on Lexi "_think I broke some ribs"_

Lexi steadied Kelly "_Karrigan we need some cover"_

"_I've got you"_ Karrigan replied as she took a shot at the mech nearest to them. The shot went wild, the bullet ricocheting off the mech and barely missing Lexi.

"_What the fuck? You do know you aren't meant to be shooting us right?"_ Lexi growled.

"_Damnit"_ Karrigan rubbed at her eyes, then shook her head trying to clear the blurred vision that was throwing her aim. Her focus drifting she suddenly realised that the blood lose from her side was beginning to give her issues. She bit down on her lip to help herself refocus and fired again, this time hitting her target "_Two down, two to go_" she said as she switched her aim to the next one "Move!"

Lexi didn't need the encouragement she was already moving, supporting Kelly they couldn't exactly move fast but moving was their only option. They hadn't got far when Kelly heard a low whirring click, grabbing Lexi's shotgun she spun them round and fired one-handed "_Boom"._ The mechs chest exploded and drained from the effort Kelly sagged back heavily into Lexi's arms.

Momentarily disoriented Lexi somehow managed to stop them from falling back, chuntering as she did so "_Blimey girl my SMG fine but no one touches my shotgun. Though it was a good shot"_ she conceded reluctantly.

"_Huzzah for me"_ Kelly waved weakly towards the door "_Now can we go and where's this Karrigan that splattered me?"_

Karrigan chuckled as she heard Kelly's remark, she took aim on the last mech. Concentrating hard she fired taking it out with her second shot her aim still slightly off "_You guys are clear. Go. I'll meet you there"_

They moved as quickly as they could, stumbling back to the Sky car, the route still clear from earlier. Lexi frowned as they got there then helped Kelly into the Sky car and pushed her pistol into her hands "_Karrigan should have been here already she was closer than us. I need to go find her." Kelly didn't reply._ Lexi reached out and gently touched her face "_Kelly you need to stay with me just for a bit longer, no passing out. I'll be back as soon as I can"_

Kelly tried to nod and acknowledge Lexi's words but any movement caused a wave of nausea to flood over her. Lexi growled in frustration at having to leave her but she had no choice she had to find Karrigan "_Where the fuck are you?"_ she said harshly into the comm. There wasn't an answer. Turning into the passageway where the ladder was she saw her slumped against a wall her hand pressed against her side, the bullet wound and blood loss clear "_You have got to be fucking kidding me...you guys are useless" _She knelt down beside her "_You still with me?" _

Karrigan's eyes fluttered open her reply hoarse and wracked with pain "_Didn't expect to get shot"_ on her last word she slid into unconsciousness.

"_Oh well that's just great. Well I'm sorry about this but there's no time to be gentle" _Hoisting her up Lexi moved as fast as she could half carrying, half dragging Karrigan back to the Sky car. When she got her there she placed her in the back beside Kelly.

"_Here meet Karrigan"_ delving into her weapons pack Lexi found some medi-gel and bandages, she worked quickly applying the medi-gel and then placing a bandage over it. She then took one of Kelly's hands in hers and pressed it down hard on the wound earning a moan from the still unconscious Karrigan "_Well at least she's still alive. Hold that there" _she said indicating the bandage "_I'll get us back to the Normandy, you contact Chakwas and let her know we are on the way and need assistance."_

Kelly gave a shallow nod, then grimaced "_Fuck they have my omnitool we'll have to go back"_

"_Not happening"_ Lexi replied firmly as she clambered into the Sky car "_She needs medical attention and so do you. The omnitool can wait. Now use Karrigan's omnitool and tell Chakwas what has happened"_

Sighing heavily Kelly accessed Karrigan's omnitool and sent a priority call through to Chakwas as Lexi drove at frightening speed through Omega "_Hey Doc, we're gonna need a little help"_ she hesitated as she looked at a still unconscious Karrigan "_Yeah Doc, we're gonna need a lot of help."_


	10. After The Fact

Lexi woke up early to an empty crew quarters, she sat up and dangled her legs off the side of her bunk as she looked around the room reflecting on the previous day. On their return to the Normandy Chakwas had insisted that both Kelly and Karrigan had spent the night in medbay. Karrigan was the most seriously hurt her injury meaning she wouldn't be escaping medbay any time soon. As for Kelly the Doc had given her a sedative and then kept her in for observation.

Lexi had left medbay quickly, as quickly as she could, leaving the others to the lecture that Chakwas seemed so adept at. She had started as soon as she had met them outside of the Normandy. The only good thing, thought Lexi, was that most of it had been directed at Karrigan. She grinned as it occurred to her how fortunate Karrigan had been to be unconscious at the time. At the same time though she knew it was a dressing down that Karrigan had deserved and should have heard "_Mind going by the way you stupidly attacked cerberus without a thought for me or Kelly..well I think there's a good chance you'll be in medbay and getting that lecture a lot."_

"_I'm really not sure about you"_ she continued to mutter out loud as she looked at Karrigan's half unpacked kit bag that was sat on her bunk. Karrigan although deadly with her sniper rifle had been... Lexi struggled to find the right words. One sprung to mind and she said it aloud as if testing it out for it's suitability "_Unpredictable",_ she nodded that was the word "_You're unpredictable and I don't like that, I don't trust that."_

Her eyes moved across to Kelly's bunk, empty except for the fedora that Lexi had placed on it late last night. It was more than a little bent out of shape after Lexi had somehow managed to squash it during the fight but at least it was back where it belonged just like Kelly was.

She stood up, grabbing her washing stuff and a clean uniform, and headed to the showers. Thirty minutes later and, if she ignored the dull ache across her cheek, she felt as good as new. Knowing she couldn't put it off any longer she steeled herself and headed off to medbay. She entered to find both Kelly and Karrigan still asleep, Chakwas started to chase her out "_But I just wanted to check that..."_

A look from Chakwas silenced her mid sentence, "_Stand still"_ said Chakwas as she frowned. Lexi did, knowing that was not a tone to be trifled with, the Doc held her chin and tilted her head back "_I told you not to let anyone hit you"_ she snapped.

"_To be fair Doc I didn't exactly let someone hit me"_

Chakwas pressed firmly on Lexi's cheekbone "_OW!"_ Lexi cried out.

"_You've aggravated it." Chakwas picked up a scanner and run it along Lexi's cheekbone "Hmmm...it should be fine but very tender."_

"_No shit"_ Lexi said sullenly.

"_And this time when I say no more fist fights I mean no more fist fights"_

"_Yes ma'am"_

Chakwas glared.

"_Sorry ...yes Doctor"_ Lexi took a breath then continued "_Doc...how are they?"_

"_Kelly will be fine, a mild concussion, a broken nose and a lot of bruises. When she wakes I'll discharge her. As for Karrigan she'll be in here a little longer. Why she didn't patch herself up in the field I don't know, especially when she's a trained medic. She was lucky you patched her up before heading back, You doing that and Kelly keeping pressure on her wound saved her. She's lucky to be alive."_

"_We're all lucky to be alive"_ Lexi said softly as an image of Karrigan's initial attack sprang to mind.

Chakwas looked at her closely "_You ok?"_

"_Sure. Was just a rough day."_

"_You know I'm here if you want to talk."_

"_I'm good Doc"_

Chakwas didn't believe her but she let it go "_Well then if that's the case I have a job for you"_ she placed her hands on Lexi's shoulders and gently spun her round until she was looking directly at a pile of Kelly's and Karrigan's dirty, bloodied armour.

Lexi groaned "_Fine...I'll sort it"_

"_Good girl" _the Doc said hiding her smile.

It took Lexi two trips to get all the gear down to the cargo bay and deposited by their respective workbenches. "_Great three lots to clean and fix"_ she chuntered "_Oh well... guess I'd best get started"_ she sighed and sat cross legged on the floor starting with Kelly's gear "_You guys so owe me."_

* * *

Kelly slowly came round, from the sedative that Chakwas had administered to help her sleep, to find herself in medbay "_Oi, whoa..."_ she moaned softly as she rubbed at her eyes catching the sensitive bruising around her nose. She pushed herself up into a sit and glanced around. Chakwas was sat at her desk head down working away on something. Whilst next to her was Karrigan, patched up by the Doc, but still out for the count. There was no sign of Lexi.

"_Doc."_ the word came out quietly, hoarsely, her throat dry. She swallowed then cleared her throat before trying again "_Doc."_

Chakwas looked up hearing her this time, seeing Kelly awake she set aside her work and made her way over to her "_Back with us then?"_

Kelly grinned "_Yes Doc, have I got permission to leave?"_

Nodding Chakwas replied "_Yes but you suffered a mild concussion so take it easy today, light duties only."_

"_Yes ma'am."_

"_Not you as well!" _

"_What?"_ Kelly asked perplexed.

"_I told Lexi... it's Doctor not ma'am."_

Kelly bit back a smile "_Yes Doctor."_

"_Much better. Now go before I change my mind and make you stay longer."_

Kelly didn't need telling twice "_Thanks Doc." _she got down off the bed and went to leave pausing by Karrigan's bed "_Thanks for the rescue."_ she muttered softly before looking back at Chakwas "_How's she doing?"_

"_She'll be fine. Just needs a couple of days rest, she should come around in a couple of hours."_

"_Ah...okay. I'll come back later then. Oh and Doc do you know where Lexi is I'm surprised she isn't here.."_

Chakwas smiled "_She was here earlier but right now she's busy. I should imagine she's in the cargo bay."_

"_Busy?"_

"_You'll see."_ Chakwas chuckled to herself as she sat back down at her desk.

Intrigued Kelly headed out of medbay, she wanted to go and find Lexi and see what had Chakwas so amused but she needed a shower and a change of clothes first. When she walked into the crew quarters to get a change of uniform the first thing she saw was her squashed fedora lying on her bunk. Things really hadn't gone to plan she thought to herself and there was still the small matter of her missing omnitool. Sighing in annoyance she picked up a clean uniform and headed to the showers.

Twenty minutes later and she felt better again although she had been shocked at her appearance when she looked at herself in the mirror. Her nose, although reset, was swollen and squashed. Then there was the black and blue bruising radiating out from it spreading underneath both her eyes. To finish it all off nicely there was the gash from where the trooper had pistol whipped her, although in this case it had been a bloody great assault rifle he had hit her with. The gash was surrounded by further bruising and it was all too clear where her concussion had come from.

Not wanting to dwell on it any longer she made her way to the cargo bay. As she stepped off the elevator she couldn't help but grin at the sight of Lexi cross-legged on the floor scrubbing and polishing armour.

"_Lexi..."_

"_Fuck." _Lexi visibly jumped at the interruption "_you made me jump, sneaking up on me like that."_

"_You don't say."_ Kelly laughed "_I'd never have known... I mean you didn't jump that high."_ she grinned crookedly wincing as she did "_Ow...not so good." _she said as she rubbed at her nose.

"_Aw poor Kelly...you got a poorly nose?" _Lexi teased back.

Kelly chuckled "_Not that you'd notice." _she sat down at her workbench and looked at her clean armour, she looked across to see Karrigan's armour also laid out sparkling clean. Lexi was still busy doing her own "_Doc said you were busy she wasn't kidding."_

"_I was up early. I came to check on you guys but you were still away with the fairies so the Doc kindly gave me a job. It's not so bad, therapeutic I guess."_ she peered closely at Kelly "_Ya know that new look you are sporting might just be an improvement."_

"_You cheeky..."_

"_Now, now" _Lexi laughed "_If you will get yourself snaffled by Cerberus these things will happen"_

"_Yeah..."_ Kelly trailed off.

"_You ok?" _Lexi asked all cheekiness set aside.

"_Sure."_ Kelly nodded "_Karrigan looks worse for wear than me. How did that happen?"_

"_Hell if I know. From what I saw she seems to attract trouble."_ Lexi answered as she scrubbed blood off her chest piece "_Or go looking for it."_

Kelly raised an eyebrow "_You don't sound impressed."_

"_Oh don't get me wrong she's a whizz with that sniper rifle of hers but..." _Lexi hesitated as she tried to work out what to say "_but I dunno... she seemed to have a death wish the way she went at them."_

"_She's a marine...don't we all have a death wish to some extent?"_

"_Yeah ...maybe." _

Kelly could hear the doubt in Lexi's voice but all she kept thinking was that between the two of them Lexi and Karrigan had infiltrated a Cerberus base and got her out. A pretty impressive feat and one that earnt Karrigan both respect and a chance as far as she was concerned.

"_How was she when you left medbay?" _Lexi asked "_Still out of it?"_

"_Yeah. Doc says she'll come round in a couple of hours, I said we'd go back later to check on her." _

"_Well in the meantime catch this and make yourself useful..."_ she threw one of her shoulder pieces at Kelly who caught it instinctively, Lexi grinned "_...for a change."_

"_Oy!"_ Kelly protested as she tried not to laugh.


	11. A Team Begins

They worked in a comfortable silence for a good hour until all the armour was ready and, bar the hole in Karrigan's where the bullet had penetrated, fit for purpose again. Lexi stood up and stretched watched by Kelly "_Ohhh...that's better. Guess we'd best go see how she is going."_

"_Good idea. We can grab a coffee in the mess on the way."  
_  
"_Tea."_

"_Fine coffee and tea."_ Kelly shook her head then stopped as she noticed something sat on the far corner of Lexi's workbench "_Lexi is that my Paladin? I thought I'd lost that to Cerberus."_

"_Oh yeah forgot that. That's the gun that Commander was using. I thought it looked familiar so I picked it up on the off chance."_

Kelly picked it up a crooked grin on her face as she hefted it in her hand, she knew the instant she picked it up it was hers the balance was perfect. She placed it on her workbench "_Thanks...though it's a shame you didn't grab my omnitool too." _ she said grinning.

"_It's a shame you lost your omnitool."_ Lexi quipped back.

"_I didn't lose it." _Kelly replied indignantly as they walked side by side to the elevator.

Lexi glance sideways at her a cheeky grin on her face "_Too easy."_

"_Oh you..."_ Kelly shoved her into the elevator then stood beside her ignoring her chuckles as the elevator started to move.

* * *

The persistent beeping of the monitor she was attached to was the first thing that Karrigan heard as she slowly regained consciousness. Opening her eyes she looked around trying to get her bearings. She recognised that she was in a medbay as she moved her hands, she wasn't restrained and there were no guards present so she was pretty convinced she was in the Normandy medbay. She allowed herself a small, soft sigh of relief.

She tried to ease herself up but stopped as a sharp pain in her right side protested her movement "_Arrgghh..."_ she winced "_Forgot I got nailed."_ Gritting her teeth she attempted to lift her shirt to see her wound put the exertion was too much and she laid back down with a groan.

Chakwas looked up, seeing her awake she walked over to greet her "_Karrigan O'Connell I'm Doctor Chakwas and you were meant to report to me on arrival for medical clearance prior to assignment. Something you didn't do."_ Her voice is stern.

"_Doctor we..."_

Chakwas silence her with a stare "_This isn't up for debate. I've informed Captain Shepard of your insubordination" _she didn't give Karrigan an opportunity to interrupt "_Your injury although minor was also made worse by the fact that you ignored it. You're a trained medic O'Connell what were you thinking?"_

Karrigan went to answer, her cheeks flushing in anger, as she saw Chakwas's face though she decided against it. Instead she just laid there as Chakwas continued to lecture her on her responsibilities, as a field medic, to both herself and her squadmates. Karrigan had the sinking feeling that it was going to be a very long lecture.

* * *

Lexi and Kelly could see into the medbay from where they were in the mess and they could quite clearly see that Karrigan was getting an earful from Chakwas.

"_You know we really should go and save her." _Kelly said.

"_Oh I dunno."_ was the reply from Lexi "_I think that lecture might do her some good."_

"_Lexi..."_ Kelly said despairingly.

"_What? It might. But if you want to go and save her be my guest." _Lexi waved Kelly off in the direction of the medbay.

Feeling the need to explain Kelly replied "_Well she did help save me ass from Cerberus, so I do owe her."_

Lexi grinned "_Yes we did save your ass. So go on then. You feel free to do your good deed and save her and I'll stay here and finish making the drinks."_

"_Coward." _Kelly laughed "_You just don't want to be lectured by Chakwas."_

"_Hey I heard that lecture all too clearly last night and I so don't feel the need to go there again."_

"_Fair enough I get that. But I'd best go save her only seems fair." _she stood still watching, as Chakwas continued her tirade, until Lexi poked her in the side.

"_Well go on then, standing here watching isn't saving her."_

"_Oy! Cheeky."_ Kelly couldn't help but smile at Lexi's cheek "_I'm a going, I'm a going."_ Taking a deep breath Kelly left Lexi and walked towards the medbay.

"_Good luck!" _Lexi called after her, grinning to herself as she moved around the mess preparing tea and coffee.

* * *

Just as Karrigan thought Chakwas was never going to stop someone entered medbay and distracted her. "_Thank you." _she whispered to herself as Chakwas stopped and turned to see who it was.

"_Kelly, back already?" _Asked Chakwas.

"_Yeah Doc, just wanted to come see how Karrigan is doing."_

The Doctor glanced at Karrigan "_Awake. I'll leave you to talk."_

"_Thanks Doc."_

Chakwas walked away pausing as she neared Kelly "_Not too long. She needs to rest." _Kelly nodded in acknowledgment as she moved to stand by Karrigan's bed.

"_Hey Karrigan. How you feeling?"_ Kelly asked unsure quite how to start the conversation.

"_Hi. Kelly?"_

"_Yeah" _Kelly replied as she drew a chair up to the bed and settled back into it "_I believe I owe you a thank you."_

Karrigan smiled "_No. You're good. It's what we do right? Kick Cerberus's ass. And anyway you just saved me from Chakwas and her lecture that's like being shot all over again."_

Kelly grinned crookedly, at Karrigan's comment, wincing as her nose throbbed in protest she rubbed at it without thinking.

"_Those bastards really did a job on your face. You look like a raccoon with those bruises under your eyes."_

Kelly laughed "_Yeah and a nice sunrise by my temple" _she rubbed idly at her nose again

"_Yes very pretty."_ Karrigan chuckled, her chuckle turning into a groan as her side reminded her it was there and hurting. She closed her eyes and bit her lip to stop her laughter, then looked across to see Kelly rubbing her nose again "_And leave your nose alone, you'll make it worse." _she chastised her.

"_Yeah. Yeah." _Kelly dropped her hand down away from her nose "_So how are you feeling?"_

"_I'm good just don't make me laugh again. You? You look tired."_

"_I'm beyond knackered. Kinda a mix between not sleepy and sluggish, Add in the pain meds that the Doc gave me and I feel a little giddy too."_

"_So shouldn't you be in the next bio bed?"_

"_Doc released me for light duties. I'm trying to behave but I'm itching to get my omnitool back."_

"_Where is it?"_

"_Cerberus a-holes took it. Probably cause they could see it wasn't just a regular run of the mill one."_

"_Ah and you want it back..._"

* * *

Lexi had finished making the drinks but as of yet she hadn't joined Kelly and Karrigan. She didn't know what to make of this Karrigan, she knew she should give her the benefit of the doubt, but something wasn't quite sitting right with her. Realising that standing here was achieving nothing and helping no one she decided to put her reservations aside and give Karrigan the benefit of the doubt for now.

Happy to have made a decision, even if she was still a little hesitant, she grabbed a tray and piled it up with the pots of coffee and tea and three mugs. She went to go and then changed her mind she stopped and picked up a fourth mug before she left, sure that Chakwas would appreciate the gesture.

She entered medbay just in time to catch Karrigan say "and you want it back."

"_You want what back?"_ she asked as she placed the tray down on the biobed next to Karrigan.

Karrigan answered her "_Kelly wants her omnitool back."_

"_Not sure the Doc will approve that."_ Lexi replied looking pointedly at both of them "_You're hardly fit and able right now."_

"_Gotta get that tool back."_ Kelly grumbled "_We really don't want Cerberus engineers poking around in there."_

"_Why what will they find?"_ asked Lexi.

Kelly looked at Lexi "_You have seen all the modding I've done to it right?"_

"_She may have done but I haven't." _Karrigan interjected "_What mods do you have?"_

Lexi groaned under her breath at Karrigan's question, tech was so not her thing, and now Kelly was going to be unstoppable in her explanation. She decided that now would be a very good time to sort out the teas and coffees. Kelly on the other hand grinned happily at Karrigan pleased to have someone interested, after two very frustrating weeks of trying to talk to Lexi about it and getting nothing but blank stares as she tried to explain all the intricacies involved.

"_Well besides my encryption codes for software, there are schematics for the Normandy, the turrets and drones and their upgrades and the blueprint software upgrade I've been working on for Lexi's cloak."_

Lexi stopped dead in her tracks the coffee pot in her hand as she realised what Kelly had said "_The what for my what?"_

Kelly sighed frustrated that yet again Lexi hadn't been listening "_Oh nothing... it doesn't matter now. We just need to get my omnitool back."_

Lexi frowned as something occurred to her "_And how exactly did you get the blueprints for my cloak?"_

Kelly at least had the decency to look a little sheepish, Karrigan took pity on her "_Hey Lexi aren't you suppose to be getting me a coffee?"_

"_What?"_ Lexi looked down at the pot in her hand "_Oh...yeah. sorry."_

Kelly mouthed a silent thank you to Karrigan as she moved to raise her bed and help her into a more comfortable position for drinking. Once Karrigan was settled Kelly sat back down helping herself to a coffee as she did so. Lexi handed Karrigan a steaming mug of coffee making sure she had a tight grip before she let go. Karrigan held it in both of her hands, the effort and her tiredness causing her hands to shake slightly. Taking a sip she sighed in pleasure "_Oh I needed that."_

Lexi smiled and then made her way across medbay to give Chakwas her tea. When she returned Kelly and Karrigan were sat discussing how they could retrieve Kelly's omnitool. Lexi picked up her cup of tea, pulled a chair across and joined in the discussion.

Chakwas watched from the comfort of her desk, a hint of a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. This was the most focus and purpose she had seen from either Lexi or Kelly since they had arrived on the Normandy. Medbay was not the place she wanted to see any of them but she knew that even Shepard would have thought they had been a squad for years, not hours, the way they were interacting and planning.

She had a sneaky suspicion that she was going to see a fair amount of these marines, due to the nature of the missions Shepard would send them on, but she was also certain from just the small glimpse she had had of them together that they were gonna make one hell of a team.


	12. Finding A Lead

The three of them sat talking and devising a plan until Karrigan drifted off to sleep, the only interruption being when they stopped to eat. Chakwas had kept a close eye on them but a few well timed runs to the mess to get drinks had appeased her. It wasn't until Karrigan started to snore that Kelly and Lexi realised that she had gone to sleep on them.

Their plan was simple and required a trip to Afterlife to find themselves someone who would "help" them with a location to the Cerberus technical division labs on Omega. One thing Omega could always be relied upon was someone who was willing to talk if the price was right. Their issue though was going to be time as they had very little of it. Shephard had informed the crew over the comms that the Normandy would be leaving Omega in 36 hours. Time was going to be very tight.

Kelly looked at Karrigan, an amused smile on her face as the marine lay there snoring, she turned back to Lexi "_Well she wasn't going to be able to come with us to Afterlife so I guess we shouldn't be too insulted that she fell asleep on us."_

"_That is very true."_

"_Afterlife then?"_

"_You asking me out?"_ Lexi asked as she tried not to laugh from Kelly's face at the question.

"_No, well yeah, but no." _Kelly shook her head as she stumbled over her words.

"_Too easy..."_

"_Butthead."_

"_Yep"_ Lexi grinned before going all business like "_Though before we go we need to change out of these uniforms and I want my omnitool back, please."_

Kelly glanced down at Lexi's omnitool, which was sat in her lap as she had been modifying the cloak to extend its use. "_It should last five minutes now before needing a two minute recharge. After four uses though it will deplete the power supply, kaput. Shields will go to half strength."_

Impressed that Kelly had managed to double the cloaking time, Lexi took her omnitool back and slipped it on her left arm "_Wow. Good job, every little bit will help. Now let's go time is short."_

On their way out of the Normandy they stopped off in the crew quarters and changed into civvies. Cargo pants and a hoodie for Lexi. Whilst Kelly wore cargo pants, a shirt, a leather jacket and her fedora which she had somehow managed to squash back into shape. Both of them wore combat boots and, knowing that Afterlife was not somewhere you went unprepared, they armed themselves with pistols and concealed knives. Happy that they were ready, they left the Normandy.

* * *

Shepard, who had been busy all day negotiating with Aria on Omega, walked into medbay. After reading Chakwas's report detailing their arrival back on the Normandy with two of them injured, Shepard was not happy and she wanted an explanation. Expecting to find all three of them in the Doctors care she was even more unhappy when she saw only Karrigan there.

Chakwas, who had known Shepard for quite some time, immediately recognised that Shepard was not in the mood to be messed with.

"_Where are they?" _Shepard asked foregoing any pleasantries.

"_Sorry Captain, I don't know. Karrigan as you can see is confined to medbay for now. Kelly and Lexi were here but they left about an hour ago."_

"_They left, why did you let them leave?"_

Chakwas although taken aback by Shepard's anger, was not about to be intimidated "_I had no medical reason to detain them Captain. Lexi wasn't injured and Kelly is fit for light duties. I merely followed your procedures."_

Shepard growled in frustration "_And you don't know where they are now?"_

"_No Captain, though I did overhear some talk of a missing omnitool and Afterlife."_

Groaning Shepard's shoulders sagged slightly "_I have the sinking feeling that these marines are going to be trouble. Lots and lots of trouble."_

"_Permission to speak Captain?"_

"_Of course." _Shepard said in surprise, it occurred to her that perhaps she had been a little harsh in her speech to Chakwas "_You are always free to speak freely, we have known each other far too long for you not to."_

Chakwas smiled at Shepard's words "_I know they haven't got off to the best start..."_

"_That's an understatement."_ Shepard snapped.

Chakwas raised an eyebrow at the interruption and then tried again "_I know they haven't got off to the best start but this afternoon when they sat there chatting there was something there. I can't put my finger on exactly what but it was definitely there."_ She paused to collect her thoughts "_If I had walked in on them and not known their history I would have thought they had been a team for years."_

"_Really?_" the tone of Shepard's question clearly showed her doubt.

Nodding Chakwas continued "_You knew when you requested them that they might cause you a little trouble, but if you put them to the test Captain, I think they might surprise you."_

"_Put them to the test..."_ Shepard mulled the idea over in her head then slapped Chakwas on the back grinning wickedly "_Put them to the test...that sounds like an excellent suggestion and I have just the thing."_

Leaving Chakwas standing and wondering what she had just got the marines into, Shepard left medbay an evil grin across her face as she once more repeated those words "_Put them to the test."_

* * *

Kelly and Lexi entered Afterlife, it was packed and the very loud heavy music that was pulsating through the place was going to mean that most of their conversations would actually be shouting matches.

"_Perfect."_ Lexi commented with a broad grin on her face "_I do like this place."_

Ignoring her comment Kelly looked around "_So, Lexi, I'm thinking that bar seats are our best bet. In the middle of the action and able to see it all."_

Laughing Lexi answered "_And close to the drinks. Sounds good to me." _

"_It wasn't entirely to be close to the drinks."_

"_Course it wasn't"_ Lexi grinned "_I've seen you watching those dancers on the bar ever since we walked in."_

Kelly sighed but didn't deny it instead going across to the bar. A still grinning Lexi followed her. They sat down and Lexi, without asking Kelly what she wanted, ordered drinks "_Two beers."_ she looked slyly at Kelly and then added "_Oh and two whiskeys."_

Blinking Kelly looked at her "_Really? Whiskey chasers? You know we are here to do a job right?"_

"_Gotta blend in."_ Lexi said as she picked up her whiskey and knocked it back in one gulp. Putting her glass down she picked up the beer and drained it without taking a breath, she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand "_Oh boy that was needed."_ she looked at Kelly sat holding her whiskey whilst she had watched Lexi drink "_Lightweight huh?"_

Kelly threw her a mock glare then followed Lexi's lead, drinking first the whiskey and then the beer.

As she finished Lexi could hear her muttering but only caught one word, incorrigible. Biting back a smile she ordered two more whiskeys and told the bartender to leave the bottle

"_My kinda girl"_ he said as he left it between them on the bar.

"_See that wasn't so bad was it?"_ she asked Kelly as she slid another whiskey along the bar to her.

"_Not bad at all."_ Kelly picked the shot glass up as she scanned the crowd "_Pretty good in fact, blending in is a good idea but we are here to..." _she stopped mid sentence as a very attractive, very scantily dressed, Asari dancer brushed past her.

Lexi nudged her hard in the ribs "_We aren't here for that either!"_

"_Oh I dunno..."_ Kelly sprang to her feet, her eyes still firmly fixed on the Asari as she walked, well shimmied away "_These dancers normally know all sorts of things that they shouldn't."_ She knocked her drink back and, without her eyes ever leaving the Asari, put her glass down on the bar.

Picking up the whiskey bottle she said, "_Sure I can persuade her to help._" she flashed her crooked grin at Lexi "_Thanks for the whiskey oh and don't wait up."_

Lexi watched dumbstruck as Kelly caught up with the Asari and threw an arm casually around her shoulder as she whispered something in her ear. The Asari leaned into Kelly and lead her away giving Kelly just enough time to glance back at Lexi and throw her a wink.

"_You have got to be kidding me."_ Lexi chuntered "_Well... if that's how much you want your omnitool back I'm just gonna stay here and keep drinking."_


	13. A Barkeep's New Best Friend

Karrigan woke up late in the evening, the first thing she noticed as she woke was that the persistent beeping that she had woke to earlier was gone. As she looked around she could see that she was no longer attached to any machines. Moving slowly she pushed herself upright. As the room spun around her she gripped the bedding tight, she stayed motionless until the spinning stopped and she got her bearings. She swung her legs off the side of the bed and was just about to lower herself down when she was interrupted.

"_Where do you think you are going?"_ a voice says from behind her "_You still need bed rest."_

Thinking quickly, and biting back a curse at being caught, she turns to face Chakwas "_Bed rest I can get in crew quarters..." _she decides to push her luck "_after a shower?"_

Chakwas frowned "_Hmmm...shower and then straight to bed."_

"_Yes Doctor, shower then bed you have my word."_

"_And you'll report to me in the morning. That's an order not a question before you wonder."_

Karrigan answered trying not to grin "_Yes. As soon as I'm up I'll report here."_

"_Well..." _Chakwas toyed it over "_Ok. But be careful of that wound and I want to see you at 0800 hours no excuses."_

"_Yes Doc...Thanks Doc."_ Karrigan grinned as she lowered herself down off the bed, Chakwas made no effort to help. She stood a little unsteadily and caught her breath before slowly exiting the medbay.

A shower and a slow walk later and she was in the crew quarters. She laid down gingerly and glanced round. She was not surprised to see that both Lexi and Kelly's bunks were empty "_Having fun still at Afterlife huh?"_ she smiled to herself and reflected on that was one trip she was pleased to have missed. Most marines didn't get a marine who didn't drink alcohol and it was something that she didn't really want to explain on the first day of meeting them.

* * *

Lexi watched Kelly walk away and then turned back to the bar feeling more than a little dejected. She finished the whiskey that she had in her hand and then signalled the bartender. It was the same one from earlier, a human male, and he looked more than happy to come back over to serve her. He was chatty, very chatty and it occurred to Lexi as he talked that he might be useful. She ordered another bottle of whiskey and refilled both her glass and the empty one that Kelly had left on the bar "_Join me?"_

He grinned and nodded and they sat drinking, him more than her as she kept plying him with drink as she just sipped at hers. He didn't notice and as he drank more his tongue got looser. He began to open up more about himself and, interestingly, about his sideline in the black market. Lexi knew he hadn't meant to let that slip but she picked up on it immediately and through a lot of well placed questions and a little bit of flattery she knew she had hit the jackpot with this guy.

Lexi leaned in close to him, conspiratorially, her hand resting on his forearm "_So from what you are saying you are the man I should talk to. I have this contract..."_

His eyes watched her hand on his arm "_Do you now?"_

"_Yes. I need to get hold of some hi-tech equipment and you seem like you might be the man to help."_

He grinned "_I believe this may be your lucky day."_ his tone was positively lecherous.

Biting back her distaste as his obvious double entendre she continued"_I need a contact in Cerberus to get hold of the specific item I need. They'd have to work in the tech division and I'm willing to pay well, very well." _

She pulled out a large handful of credits and placed them on the bar leaving her hand on top of them. He looked at them greedily before looking back at her "_You think you can help? There's more in it for you if you can make an introduction..."_

A sly smile on his face he traced one of his fingers over the back of Lexi's hand, it was all she could do to not pull her hand away at the contact "_More?" _he asked raising an eyebrow.

"_Credits. More credits. This is strictly business."_ from the look on his face she could tell he was losing his interest "_Pleasure comes after business."_

He nodded a grin plastered on his face "_Sounds like an agreement to me."_

Lexi moved her hands, leaving the credits free for him to take, and stood up "_The introduction needs to be soon or this arrangement won't work."_

He frowned "_How soon?"_

_"Tomorrow. Tomorrow morning."_

His eyes roamed up and down her body "_Oh I think I can do that."_

"_I'll be back tomorrow then. Don't disappoint me"_ she leaned in close and whispered softly "_I don't like being disappointed."_ She moved fast back out of reach, before he could react, turned her back on him and walked away. As she left Afterlife she knew that his eyes hadn't left her "_Kelly"_ she chuntered "_The things I do for you."_

When she arrived back at the Normandy she went straight to the crew quarters and bedded down for the night completely oblivious to the fact that Karrigan was in there already and asleep.

* * *

In the early hours of the morning Kelly stumbled into the pitch black crew quarters a happy grin on her face. As she walked in she tripped over the kit bag that Karrigan had left stranded on the floor and hit her shin hard on Karrigan's bunk. She cursed silently and hopped back, her hands on her shin, only to fall backwards over the offending kit bag. She landed heavily on her backside "_Ommph...Trickster curse it."_ she mumbled.

"_Are you ok?"_ a voice hissed out softly from Karrigan's bunk.

"_Karrigan?" _Kelly whispered back.

"_Yeah. Who else?"_ Karrigan rolled her eyes forgetting that Kelly can't see her "_You make any progress on your omnitool?"_

"_Hmmm..."_ Kelly answered as she rubbed at her shin "_Oh, yeah think I've got a location."_

Yawning Karrigan nodded "_Good, good."_

"_Overdone it today have you?"_ Kelly asked in hushed tones "_Hey and how did you persuade Chakwas to let you out of medbay?"_

"_Yeah think I have."_ Karrigan replied wearily not answering the second question as sleep got the better of her.

"_Sleeping huh? Good idea."_ Kelly pulled herself up and then careful not to trip over anything else made her way to her bunk. She kicked off her boots and flopped back on her bunk too exhausted to bother getting undressed. "_Goddess what a night."_ She said happily before she drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Lexi woke at 0600, she always woke at 0600 regardless of what time she went to sleep. She got up out of bed and left quietly surprised to see both Kelly and Karrigan asleep in their bunks. First stop was the showers, once cleaned and dressed she headed to the mess and made herself a large mug of tea. She then went down to the cargo bay. She took a small sip of the very hot tea before placing it down on her workbench. Lexi sat down and picked up her shotgun. The next couple of hours passed quickly as she stripped down, cleaned and then reassembled first her shotgun, then her pistol and finally her SMG.

She leant back in her chair and finished off what was left of her, by now cold, tea and wondered what she should do next when her omnitool beeped to notify her of a message. Accessing it she was pleased to see that it was from the bartender and said that he had just the person waiting in Afterlife for her now. "_Afterlife is open now?" _she said incredulously.

Cortez who was walking past her, and towards the Kodiak shuttle, laughed at her stunned look and answered her question "_Afterlife is always open."_

"_Always? Well I guess it's never too early for a drink huh?"_

"_Never too early, never too late."_ Cortez quipped back.

Lexi grinned and stood up "_I like your thinking."_

Cortez grinned back and then continued on to the Kodiak. Lexi watched him walk away for a moment then picked up her pistol and a knife. She strapped the pistol to her thigh and secreted the knife away just in case she needed it. Then she headed out of the Normandy and back to Afterlife, relieved that she had thought to put civvies on this morning and didn't have to waste time changing out of her uniform.

The streets were quieter than normal, apparently although Afterlife was opened all hours right now the majority of Omega was sleeping. She moved through the streets fast as a result and in no time at all was stepping into Afterlife. She glanced around until she saw the barkeeper, he smiled and waved her over. Steeling herself she headed towards him.


	14. Final Plans

Karrigan's alarm went off just before 0800 waking up both her and Kelly. As she sat up slowly so as not to pull her side she was hit square in the face by a flying pillow, it was accompanied by a grumpy voice "_Turn that thing off some of us are trying to sleep."_

Chuckling Karrigan threw the pillow wincing as the action sent a sharp pain through her side "_Not a morning person I take it." _

"_No."_ came the terse reply.

"_Ohhh...really not a morning person."_

"_Hrmph..." _Kelly groaned as she grabbed the pillow that Karrigan had hurled back at her. She pulled it over her head and promptly fell asleep.

"_Good to know."_ Karrigan said as she checked the time "_Oh gotta go see the Doc... catch you later."_

The only response she got was a soft snore, she smiled and left knowing that she daren't be late. The Doctor checked her over quickly and gave her orders to take it easy, when Karrigan asked after her armour Chakwas told her to check the cargo bay. When she got there she was taken aback to find her armour was all neatly laid out on her work bench and to top it off was also gleamingly clean. "_Who did that?"_

"_Lexi"_ Cortez shouted from across the cargo bay before burying his head back in the engines of the Kodiak.

"_Lexi...well I didn't expect that"_ Karrigan said as she ran her fingers over her armour. She stopped when her finger found the bullet hole that the trooper had made in her chestplate, "_Need to get that fixed."_ She sat down at her workbench and picked up her black widow stoking it reverently. This was not her first choice of down time but she didn't think that the Doctor would appreciate her going to the gym, so sighing in frustration she set about stripping down and cleaning her gun.

* * *

Lexi reached the bar to find a whiskey sat waiting for her but even she, despite her joking with Cortex, couldn't face a drink this early. She ignored it and sat with her back to the bar her eyes roaming the booths "_Which one?"_ she asked quietly.

The bartender leaned in close to her right ear and answered "_The one in the far corner."_

She casually spun back around so she could get a clear view. Sat there was a female Cerberus officer, she looked to be drinking a coffee as she worked on her datapad "_Is she expecting me?"_

"_Yes. She can get what you want but I think it's going to cost you a lot."_

"_I'm sure it will."_ Lexi replied "_We're going to need a private room, this needs to be discreet."_

"_It's all arranged."_ he smiled "_Just like I promised."_

"_Good." _Lexi stood up and started to move towards the technician when a hand grabbed her shoulder and stopped her.

"_There's the small matter of my payment."_

Biting back the urge to hit this guy, or worse, she took his hand in hers and removed it. "_Oh be in no doubt that you will get your payment."_ she forced a smile "_But business before pleasure remember?"_

That lecherous smile back on his face he nodded smugly "_Sure...business before pleasure."_

Finally free of him Lexi went over and introduced herself to the technician. She looked wary, so Lexi flashed her her most disarming smile "_S'all good. I've got us a private room so no one will disturb us. I hope that is acceptable?"_

The tech relaxed slightly and let Lexi lead her to the room. Lexi opened the door and waved her in stepping in behind her. The moment the door shut she sprung into life. Leaping forward she grabbed the unprepared tech and whipped her head round hard and fast. There was a resounding crack as her neck broke, cutting off her airways in the process. Lexi clamped her hand over her mouth to ensure that she died quietly.

Lexi lowered her to the ground and looked at her regretfully as she whispered a soft apology. This was not the way that Lexi liked to do things but sometimes there were no other options and this had been one of those times. Time restraints gave them no room to mess around, in less than 12 hours the Normandy was leaving Omega and they needed to retrieve Kelly's omnitool before then. She stripped the body of it's uniform and tech equipment and tied them into a secure bundle. Then she sent a ping on her omnitool.

Five minutes later the bartender walked in his look of expectation at her summons turning to a look of panic when he saw the body on the floor.

"_What? I..."_ he stuttered unsure what to say.

Lexi grinned at his discomfort which made his face full further. "_You wanted payment I believe?"_ she asked her voice low, dangerous as she drew her knife.

He stepped back nervously as he saw the combat knife in her hand suddenly unsure what that payment was going to be.

"_Well there it is."_ she pointed to a pile of credits that were sat on a table "_There's more than we agreed to cover disposing of the body discreetly."_

"_You're not going to..." _he looked first at the body and then at the knife again unable to finish the sentence.

As she moved towards him she spoke "_No." _ She leaned in close to his ear, exactly as he had done to her earlier, and whispered darkly "_but if you ever touch me again..."_ she didn't need to finish her sentence as her tone left little doubt as to what would happen.

"_Oh I won't."_ he stammered "_Believe me I won't."_

Lexi nodded, slipped her knife away and with her bundle of goodies tucked under her arm left him to clean up. She had a feeling that she wouldn't be seeing him again.

* * *

Groaning Kelly crawled out of her bunk and headed straight to the showers, knowing that a cold shower was all that was going to wake her up and clear her head. When the cold water hit her the last remnants of her hangover abated. In no time at all she was dressed and sat in the mess, with a very large, very black coffee, trying to remember exactly how she had obtained both the bruise on her shin and the bruise on her backside.

As she sat there Karrigan emerged from the lift, having finished cleaning her rifle, and prepared herself a coffee. Kelly sat watching her waiting to see what she would do. Karrigan finally looked up and caught Kelly's eye she smiled and walked over to her "_Mind if I join you?"_

"_Not at all." _Kelly waved at the seat opposite her and Karrigan sat down.

"_I take it from your entrance earlier that you had a good night."_ Karrigan said with a smile.

"_My entrance?"_

"_Oh you know the whole walk into my bunk then land on your backside thing."_

"_Well that explains it."_ Kelly muttered.

"_Sorry what?"_ asked Karrigan having not quite caught what Kelly had said.

"_Nothin', nothin' at all." _She decided to change the subject "_So how are you feeling today?"_

"_Still sore but much better thanks."_

They remained sat and chatting casually as they drank their coffees. One of those ice breaker getting to know you conversations. Nothing too personal but enough for them to start to find some common ground. They both jumped when something landed between them on the table with a thud.

"_So whilst I'm out there working to find leads to get your omnitool back you too are sat having a girly chat huh?" _asked Lexi.

Kelly after regaining her composure from the interruption glared "_We are not having a girly chat!"_ she poked the bundle in front of her "_And exactly what is this?"_ she looked a little closer "Is that a Cerberus uniform?"

Karrigan remained silent watching the easy, almost cheeky interaction between Kelly and Lexi.

"_That..."_ replied Lexi "_is a Cerberus tech uniform and stashed away in the middle of that bundle is her omnitool. Thought it might be useful."_

Karrigan and Kelly both looked at first the bundle and then at Lexi "_You got that?" _Karrigan asked "_How?"_

At the same time as she asked how Kelly simply replied "_Good job!"_ , as she spoke she undid the bundle and rummaged through it to find the omnitool.

Lexi turned to look at Karrigan "_Full of surprises huh?"_ she said sarcastically "_Doesn't matter how I got it, I did and hopefully it will prove useful."_ Karrigan didn't answer and Lexi turned her attention back to Kelly "_Is it useful?"_

Kelly who had already accessed the omnitool and was now rifling through files, software and keycodes flashed Lexi a crooked smile "_Yes, this should work. Middling to high security clearance, with this, the uniform and the location I obtained getting in shouldn't be a problem."_

"_You got a location from that Asari dancer?"_

"_Hell yes and a lot more in the bargain"_ she paused before continuing "_Oh and in case you're interested Asari hold their whiskey very well."_

Lexi groaned and sat down heavily "_That is way too much information." _she chuntered only to be greeted by another crooked grin. "_Oh you...can we just finalise our plan and go and get this omnitool back? I for one have just about had enough of Omega for now."_

Kelly and Karrigan exchanged a look both of them trying not to laugh at Lexi "_Sure"_ said Kelly "_Well this is what I was thinking..."_


	15. Omnitool Retrievel

An hour later their plan was devised and they were all in position. Cerberus had their tech operations on the upper floor of their headquarters and the plan was simple thought Lexi. Go in , retrieve the omnitool and leave. Ok, she reflected with a wry grin as her and Kelly made the final approach to the main entrance to the Cerberus base, maybe not quite that simple but that was the general idea.

Kelly was dressed in the tech uniform that Lexi had procured with the Cerberus omnitool on her arm. She was unarmed but was wearing a set of light armour under the uniform. She walked with an air of assured confidence, looking like she belonged there, her confidence boosted by the knowledge that Lexi was armed cloaked and by her side. They were the infiltration unit.

Above them, on top of a building that overlooked the one that Kelly and Lexi were about to enter, was Karrigan her black widow set up and waiting to give them cover should they need it. Both kelly and Lexi had pleaded with her not to go with them her injury still hindering her movement but she wouldn't have any of it. It soon became clear that she was going to go regardless of if the others approved or not so the agreement had been that she had to find someone to give them cover from afar so she would have time to make good her escape if things went askew.

Karrigan had modified her widow specifically for the mission with an infrared scope that also ran a thermal body heat recognition programme, she had both Kelly and Lexi's heat signatures marked so she could track them easily and distinguish them from the enemy. Added to that she had something that she called building buster ammo, a modification she had devised herself. The name had made Lexi raise an eyebrow as it wasn't something that sounded like it belonged in a covert mission but not wanting to cause an issue she let it slip.

Karrigan's voice came across the coms "_I'm in position. You've got four bogeys on the roof."_

"_Leave them." _hissed Lexi softly "_I'm cloaked, Kelly is in disguise. S'all good."_

Ignoring Lexi's response Karrigan took aim on the first trooped and then methodically took down all four, not noticing that the fourth of them had a chance to hit his comms and send a message just before he got taken down. "_Targets down. All clear."_

"_What?"_ said Kelly incredulously "_You didn't?"_

The only answer she got from Karrigan was a very self-satisfied chuckle. "_I did try to tell you."_ Lexi whispered.

Kelly shook her head slightly both at Karrigan's actions and Lexi's comment, then turned her attention back to the job in hand. She approached the base security guard "_Hey guys. How's it sitting today?"_ she asked with a smile as she flashed the stolen security badge at him. He nodded and opened the gate allowing her to enter, she walked in and headed towards the main building with Lexi ghosting in silently behind her.

As she cleared the guards she casually booted up her omnitool and checked the layout of the building she was about to enter "_Still with me Lexi?"_ she whispered.

"_Of course..."_ the reply was right by Kelly's left ear and it was all she could do not to jump in surprise.

"_Damn girl...you are too good at this." _she said softly. Lexi smiled to herself amused and pleased at the surprise in Kelly's voice.

"_Are you guys ok?"_ Karrigan's voice came over the coms.

Kelly replied as she walked, head down, towards the door to the main building "_Well enough. There's no one in sight. Makes me nervous."_

Karrigan switched to her infrared scope "I've got three heat signatures just behind the door that you are about to enter. I could use some of my building buster ammo."

"_No!"_ snapped Kelly forcibly. "_Not unless we have to."_ She grabbed the door handle and entered, holding the door open long enough that Lexi can enter. Kelly exchanged pleasantries with the guards inside and had her security access checked again before she was cleared to enter the main corridor. She passed through the small anteroom and walked across the main corridor to a lift. As the doors shut Lexi dropped her cloak to enable it to recharge.

"_Fun huh?"_ she said with a grin to Kelly as she reactivated her cloak mere seconds before the lift door slid open. They disembarked on the top floor and entered a small, sterile tech lab. There were four tables arranged in the lab and sitting proudly on one of them was Kelly's omnitool. She walked over to it when she heard a voice say softly to her "_This is too easy Kelly."_

* * *

"_I know." _Kelly replied as she disable the clamping locks that were holding her omnitool in place "_No alarms."_ It was then that she noticed that on the other side of a glass wall was a guard station, she turned at a noise to see that a guard had entered the lab and was watching her suspiciously. Kelly smiled at him and spoke "_Don't mind me, Figured I'd try to crack the security on this pretty."_ She turned her back on the guard and whispered to Lexi "_You good on power?"_

"_As long as you don't want to go sightseeing."_

Kelly choked back a chuckle, the next words she heard completely knocked that moment of joviality away as Karrigan's words came over the com "_Ahhh guys we have a whole platoon approaching the main building, they look like they mean business."_

Moving fast Kelly switched omnitools, sliding hers into place on her arm and clamping the Cerberus down onto the table. She turned back around, the guard had his hand on his ear as he took orders from his comm. He nodded and drew his gun levelling it at Kelly. Unarmed Kelly held her nerve "_Something the matter?"_

He didn't get the chance to respond as his throat was suddenly cut from behind and he sagged and fell to the floor. "_Time to go Kelly."_ Lexi said as she dropped her cloak and wiped her blade on the guards uniform.

"_You heard her Karrigan light the lower floors up but remember we still need to get out."_

"_About damn time."_ Karrigan replied as she set loose two building buster rounds into the platoon of troops that were just entering the ground floor of the building. "_Boojaa!" _she said joyously as she watched destruction rain down on the troopers.

Lexi unclipped Kelly's pistol, that she had taken in for her, and threw it at her. "_Guess our cover is blown then."_

Kelly caught her pistol and turned and fired it in one smooth motion taking out a guard, who was just entering the lab, with a single shot to his forehead "_Thanks."_ she grinned wickedly. She shrugged off her Cerberus tech uniform "_Well I won't be needing that anymore."_ she said as she looked at the disguise "_C'mon Lexi let's move."_

Karrigan from her high point used her thermal scope to see how many survivors there were from her initial assault "_There's six left guys. I don't have a clean line of sight on them so they are all yours."_

"_Only left us six huh Karrigan? Too easy."_ Lexi replied.

Kelly laughed "_That's what I was thinking. C'mon the lift will be useless now, let's hope the stairs at the back of the building are intact still."_ she activated her drone, Riley, as they left the lab and headed for the stairwell "_Oh baby, so glad to have you back."_

Rolling her eyes Lexi rounded the corner and came face to face with two troopers "_Oops."_

"_Dumb rookie move!" _shouted Karrigan over the comms as she say the heat signatures suddenly increase in numbers. "_Kelly she has two bogeys she's gonna need help."_

Lexi growled at Karrigan's remark as she quickly and deftly dispatched the first trooper with a point blank shotgun blast. The second trooper shot at her the bullet deflecting and sparking off her shields. "_Oh shit!"_

Kelly on the instance of hearing both the oops from Lexi and Karrigan's comments had rolled across the hall to give herself a clear shot at the troopers. As she rolled she threw a turret behind the second trooper, it opened fire on him immediately taking him out from behind before he can fire off any more shots at Lexi.

Lexi gave a small, soft sigh of relief "_Thanks Kels."_

Kelly nodded "_Ok...we're good Karrigan and on our way down the stairs. Let's go Lexi."_

Lexi took point, with Kelly's drone Riley bobbing beside her, and started down the stairs.

* * *

As they make their way down the stairs Karrigan's voice pipes up over the comms "_Looks like they have got a barricade set up at the exit guys."_

"_Any other exits we can utilise?" _Kelly asked.

Karrigan booted up her omnitool and went over the building schematics "_There's a corridor just before the exit. Take a left there and head further into the building it will lead to a docking bay. That's your new exit."_

Lexi pointed the corridor out as they approached it, Kelly nodded in acknowledgement and they took a left and kept moving "_We could do with a distraction Karrigan."_ Kelly said "_See if you can get rid of those remaining troopers for us."_

"_Thought you'd never ask."_ Karrigan grinned as she shot round after round of explosive ammo at the front of the building, safe in the knowledge that her squad were at the back and out of harms way, at least from her bullets. Kelly and Lexi exchanged a look of surprise as they heard her exclamations of joy over the comms as the front of the building exploded outwards showering the area with glass, steel and mortar. "_Damn I love my job!"_

"_A little too much."_ chuntered Lexi.

"_Gods she is destructive."_ said Kelly.

"_Ya think?"_ Lexi replied sarcastically.

"_Hey." _came Karrigan's voice over the com "_A girls gotta have some fun."_

"_Yeah."_ Kelly approached the last corner as she spoke, peering round it cautiously "_One trooper and an empty hanger? Seriously? This is way too easy."_

"_Don't complain." _said Lexi "_Karrigan's distraction has obviously worked and anyway why would they feel the need to guard an empty hanger."_

"_Good point." _Kelly crouched low then side stepped into the hall and placed a silent head shot at the trooper. He dropped to the floor dead.

The floor suddenly shook as there was an almighty explosion "_What the fuck?"_ exclaimed Lexi.

"_There ya go guys a double load of building buster ammo and the front of the building and your route out is clear."_ Karrigan laughed as she spoke clearly elated at the destruction she had just reaped.

Lexi flicked off her comms "_She is dangerous, did she even check we were clear?"_

Kelly shrugged "_Just be pleased she's on our side. At least we're good to go now. Dunno about you but I've seen enough of Cerberus's headquarters for now."_

"_Fine. Yeah. Let's go."_ Lexi replied as they crossed the hanger reached the side exit.

"_Cheer up."_ said Kelly as she slapped Lexi on the back "_I've got my omnitool back and we even have time for a drink at Afterlife before we go."_

"_Do we now?"_ Lexi said her mood lightening at the thought.

Kelly laughed at her "_Thought that might cheer you up. Hey Karrigan meet us at Afterlife once you get down from your perch, I'll line the drinks up."_

As Kelly and Lexi went to go out of the exit Karrigan suddenly caught sight of a trooper, covered in dust and grim, he was just about to enter the hanger and had his gun trained on the back of Lexi and Kelly. "_Oh no you don't buddy."_ she whispered as she looked down her sights and pulled the trigger taking him down with a soft thud. Neither of the others noticed, Karrigan smiled to herself "_Yeah sure, I'll be down soon. Meet you there."_


	16. A Little Too Much Singing

By the time Karrigan reached Afterlife Kelly and Lexi were seated in one of the booths and were on their third glasses of whiskey. Karrigan went to the bar and placed an order with the bartender they headed to join the others. She slid into the booth seat silently and listened to Kelly and Lexi chatting. They both acknowledged her presence with a hello but were busy discussing the merits of whiskey something Karrigan didn't have any interest in.

The bartender came over and placed a bottle of whiskey and a pot of coffee and a mug on the table before looking up "_Here you go..." _he faltered as his eyes caught sight of Lexi and stumbled backwards as he tried to put more distance between them "_I ...umm... I'm sorry...I didn't..."_

Lexi glared at him "_I thought I made myself clear."_

"_You did. I didn't...fuck...I'm going."_ he left quickly nearly falling as he left Afterlife at a rate of knots.

"_What was that about?" _asked Kelly curiously.

"_Nothin'"_ Lexi said a small smile on her face "_Nothin' at all."_

"_That didn't look like nothing."_ said Karrigan as she poured herself a coffee.

"_It didn't? Oh well." _Lexi shrugged nonchalantly.

Kelly recognising that Lexi wasn't going to enlighten them any further changed the subject. "_Karrigan what are you drinking?"_

"_Coffee."_ she replied defensively.

"_Coffee in a bar? You'd better have a little something else in there."_

"_No. Just coffee, Mind that does leave more whiskey for you two."_ she said as she pushed the bottle towards Kelly and Lexi.

"_That..."_ Lexi as she picked up the bottle and poured shots for both herself and Kelly "_...is a very good point."_

"_True."_ Kelly laughed and raised her newly filled glass "_Well here's to good teamwork, and"_ she paused "_thanks."_

Lexi clinked her glass with Kelly's, whilst Karrigan raised her mug and nodded.

They sat drinking and chatting until a ping went off in unison on all their omnitools. Kelly checked "_That's our thirty minute departure warning. We'd better call it a night." _

"_But..."_ Lexi said as she shook the half full whiskey bottle "_There's still lot's to go."_

"_Well we'll take it with us and go finish it in the Observation deck, drinks with a view." _said Kelly grinning crookedly at Lexi.

Karrigan frowned at the same time as Lexi grinned and answered "_Ohhh...I like your thinking."_

* * *

Shepard was stood waiting outside the Normandy, Vega and Chakwas were stood just behind her. You only had to look at Shepard to see that she was not happy. Her shoulders were set and stiff and her arms were folded across her chest as she watched the three marines sauntering towards them. Jokers voice came over the com "_Ten minutes Captain."_

"_Ten minutes until we leave"_ Shepard grumbled "_and they aren't exactly rushing."_ EDI had informed Shepard that there were three crew members unaccounted for when the thirty minute alert had been issued. It hadn't taken long to confirm Shepard's suspicions about exactly who the three missing personnel were. Especially when she had received an irate communication from Aria concerning an unauthorised attack on Cerberus's headquarters.

Shepard had tried to calm her down but it had been hard to get a word in and to be honest she couldn't help but agree. Aria had known exactly where Cerberus were and what they were up to but now, after such a blatant and devastating attack, it was clear that they would move their headquarters and that their security would be tighten up dramatically. Much to her displeasure Shepard had had to eat a lot of humble pie as she apologised for the reckless and unauthorised actions of her crew and now they, she thought as she continued to watch them strolling towards them, were going to have a lot of explaining to do.

"_More trouble than they are worth."_ She growled.

Chakwas and Vega exchanged a worried glance, they had seen Shepard this angry before but never at her own crew members. Unsure what to expect or if she was doing the right thing Chakwas tried to intervene "_Captain they..."_

"_Don't even try to defend them." _Shepard snapped as her eyes stayed trained on the marines and on Karrigan in particular "_And look at O'Connell is she even cleared for duty after her injury?"_

Chakwas bit back a groan, pleased the Captain wasn't looking at her, as she answered a question she really didn't want to knowing if was only going to aggravate the situation more "_No Captain she isn't."_

"_No. Thought not. And look at her now."_

They all watched Karrigan as she tried to hurry the others along, though it was obvious that it was her that was slowing them down. Her left hand was pressed against her right side where she had been shot and her movements were stilted as she made her way towards them.

"_She can barely move and as for the other two." _the exasperation was clear in Shepard's voice as they began to hear Kelly and Lexi as well as see them. They were singing, and they were singing very badly and very out of tune, as they staggered towards the Normandy. Added to that Lexi was swinging a whiskey bottle around in her right hand as if conducting them. Vega choked back laughter knowing that Shepard would not appreciate it.

When the three marines finally reached the Normandy they stopped and Karrigan snapped to attention, pulling off a quick smart salute "_Reporting back for duty Captain." _

Kelly stopped singing, she looked at Karrigan and then past her to see who she was saluting. She gulped when she recognised Shepard knowing, even in her drunken state, that that was not a good thing. She stood to attention, swaying slightly as she did so, and did her best to salute.

Lexi meanwhile, having not noticed Shepard, whispered loudly to Kelly "_No more singing huh? I was enjoying that!"_

"_So was I." _muttered Vega under his breath, Chakwas stifled a giggle as she heard his reply. Shepard ignored him, pretending she hadn't heard and continued to just stare at the three marines.

Karrigan elbowed Lexi sharply in the ribs "_Oi!" _Lexi exclaimed loudly "_I wasn't asking you was I? You said you didn't know the words!"_

Kelly who had at least partially sobered up, just from the thunderous look that they were getting from Shepard, spoke quickly "_Lexi."_ she hissed "_It's Captain Shepard."_

"_Is it?"_ Lexi turned and grinned broadly as she saw the Captain "_So it is. Care to join us Captain?" _she waved the whiskey in Shepard's face "_There's plenty to go around and you look like a girl who knows how to sing unlike Karrigan here."_

Kelly groaned at Lexi's comment whilst Karrigan gently shook her head. Behind Shepard Chakwas and Vega were struggling to control their laughter, Vega's shoulders were shaking as he suppressed it, whilst Chakwas could no longer look at Lexi for fear of giving in to it.

Shepard was momentarily lost for words then Joker's voice came over the com again "_Two minutes Captain."_

"_On board now."_ she snapped "_I'm in two minds about taking you so make it quick. This discussion will continue later I haven't got time now."_ She turned to Chakwas "_Take Karrigan to medbay and double check that wound. Do not let her out of your sight."_

Chakwas led a silent Karrigan away. "_As for you two."_ Kelly cringed as Lexi started to sing again. "_Get them out of my sight Vega. They can cool their heels off in the brig for a while and sober up."_

"_Yes Captain."_ replied Vega "_Come on ladies you heard the Captain."_

Kelly moved after him dragging a disgruntled looking Lexi along with her "_But what about the singing?"_ Lexi asked.

"_Oh goddess you and your singing."_ Kelly muttered.

"_You didn't complain earlier."_ Lexi chuntered "_You joined in."_

"_Well that was earlier."_

"_Oh well at least I still have this."_ she said waving the whiskey bottle in the air triumphantly. She cried out in surprise as the bottle was snatched out of her hand "_Hey!"_

"_I believe that's mine now marine." _said Shepard as she followed them into the Normandy and whipped the bottle away from Lexi.

"_But..."_ the glare Lexi received stopped even her drunken objections. "_Yes Captain." _

Kelly sighed in relief as Lexi appeared to regain her senses only for her sigh to turn into a groan as she heard Lexi's next comment as Shepard walked away.

" _Oh and Captain don't forget to sing! Much more fun when you sing."_

"_Lexi!"_ Kelly hissed as she dragged her away.

"_What?"_ Lexi said with a disarming grin. "_It is."_

"_Goddess you are incorrigible."_

As Shepard walked away her steps faltered slightly as she heard the exchange between Lexi and Kelly. She hid the small smile that was threatening to show itself and headed to her cabin with the whiskey bottle in her hand. As she stood alone in the lift she made a mental note to ask Liara to join her later to enjoy the last of the whiskey and maybe, a grin slowly spread across her face, just maybe to do some singing.


	17. A Hangover and a Lecture

As Kelly saw Lexi start to stir she couldn't hold back any longer, it had been a long night in the brig and her temper was short "_This is all your fault."_ she snapped.

"_What?"_ moaned Lexi. She was laying down on one of the hard, uncomfortable bunks with her arms folded over her face in an attempt to block out the light. She opened one eye with a groan "_Oh goddess how much did I drink?"_

"_Too much by the look of you."_ Kelly growled back, though she did feel happier knowing that Lexi was suffering this morning, "_And your smart arse mouth landed us in here."_

"_In where?"_ Lexi asked before exclaiming "_Oi!"_ as Kelly's crumpled up hoodie hit her in the side of her head.

"_You're lucky that's all I have to throw at you."_ Kelly replied "_And seriously you don't remember?"_

"_Don't remember what?"_ Lexi groaned again as she forced herself to sit upright "_Oh...that's bad."_

"_What you just remembered what happened? and how we ended up in the brig?"_

"_No"_ Lexi gulped as her hands tightly gripped the side of her bunk "_The room...it won't stop spinning. I think..."_ she gulped again "_I think I'm gonna be..."_

"_Oh no!"_ Kelly said forcibly "_Don't you dare throw up!" _she turned, as she heard a chuckle, to see Vega standing grinning at them. "_Something funny?"_ she snarled. The only effect that had was to make him laugh again, ignoring his laughter she spoke again "_Vega you'd better do something about this."_ she said as she looked at Lexi, who was now doubled over with her head in her hands.

He grinned wickedly and lowered the force field. "_Captain says you've got to stay here for a while longer, apparently she has plans for you."_

"_That doesn't sound like a good thing." _said a muffled voice, Kelly and Vega both turned to look at Lexi.

"_She doesn't hold her drink well."_ said Vega still holding the tray he was carrying.

"_Oh believe me she does." _Kelly replied defending her "_She drank a lot."_

"_Really?" _he placed the tray down on the bunk beside Lexi, who groaned and turned a shade of green as the smell of bacon and eggs wafted towards her.

"_Hell yeah. Don't let her ever challenge you to a drinking contest."_

"_Aw...Kels...you ruin all my fun."_ Lexi said from behind her hands.

"_Good to know." _Vega grinned "_Ok well the Doc thought after Lexi's performance last night that some food and coffee might be in order."_

"_Thanks."_ said Kelly who had already moved and begun pouring two large mugs of black coffee "_That might help sober her up."_

At the same time Lexi looked up and said "_Hang on after my performance? What exactly did I do?"_

Vega laughed "_I'll leave you to explain, I've got duties to get back to."_ he left the cell and reactivated the barrier "_Oh and the Captain said she'll be down later."_

Kelly shoved a mug of the steaming coffee into Lexi's hands "_Here drink this."_

Lexi squinted at her "_It's coffee."_

"_Yes it is."_

"_I don't like coffee."_

"_I know and I don't care. It's either drink this or eat that."_ she waved one of the plates under Lexi's nose trying not to grin as Lexi got hit with the smell again "_That's what I thought. So drink it."_

"_Fine." _Lexi took a reluctant sip "_Oh gods."_ she spluttered "_This so needs a little something extra in it to make it drinkable."_ she grumbled.

"_It's you having too much of that little something extra that landed us here."_ Kelly said through a mouthful of food.

"_And I thought it was you getting your omnitool snatched and the resulting unauthorised mission to get it back."_ Lexi said as she sipped at her coffee her lips curling in displeasure at the taste. She didn't like it at all but even she had to admit that it was having the desired effect and clearing her head of some of its fog.

Kelly shook her head "_Well that might be part of it but I think you made sure with your comments to Shepard..."_

"_My comments to..." _Lexi started to say before a look of horror flashed across her face as the events of the previous evening started to come back. She lifted her head to look directly at Kelly "_I didn't..."_

"_Oh you so did."_ Kelly couldn't help but laugh at the look on Lexi's face "_You tried to get Shepard To sing with you."_

"_Oh goddess...shoot me now"_ Lexi cringed.

Kelly by now had tears she was laughing so hard at Lexi, she managed to splutter a reply back "_Don't worry...sure...Shepard will...will see to that."_

* * *

Karrigan woke up in medbay. Although she hadn't aggravated her injury Chakwas was taking Shepard's orders to the letter and as such wasn't letting Karrigan out of her sight. Casting her eyes around the room Karrigan sighed as she saw her armour and weapons neatly stacked in the corner of the room. As she looked around she saw that Chakwas was watching her "_Morning Doc."_

"_Morning. And How are you feeling today?"_

"_Fine Doc just like last night. I told you my injury was okay for duty."_ Karrigan missed the look of annoyance that Chakwas gave her.

"_Did you now?"_

"_Yes I did."_ Karrigan replied shortly.

Chakwas walked over to the side of Karrigan's bed "_Now listen to me marine you may have extensive field medical training but we need to get something straight. I am the Chief Medical Officer on the Normandy and I decide who is fit for duty not you."_ she paused to gauge Karrigan's reaction but getting nothing added "_Have I made myself clear?"_

Karrigan, her face a blank mask, bit back her rising anger at the Docs words and tone. She knew that even if she didn't agree she had to agree if she wanted clearance for missions. "_I know. I'm sorry."_ she didn't mean any of the words she said.

Hearing her apology, Chakwas gave her a small smile "_Good as long as we are clear. Now I spoke to the Captain and have cleared you for light duties. She has agreed that you can leave medbay but EDI will monitor your movements and she wants you to report to the brig at 1800 hours."_

"_I don't have to join them there now?"_ Karrigan said in surprise.

"_No, the Captain is giving you the benefit of the doubt for now but if I can make a suggestion..." _

Karrigan nodded "_Of course."_

"_I'd keep a low profile for a while if I was you."_

"_I think I can do that. Looks like I have some cleaning to do anyway."_ she replied as she pointed at her gear.

"_Yes."_ Chakwas smiled again "_Yes you do."_

Karrigan got down off the bed and picked up her sniper rifle "_I'll be back for the rest Doc." _she said.

"_Yes, yes."_ Chakwas replied already distracted as another crew member entered medbay.

* * *

Karrigan made her way to the brig so she timed her arrival to be just before 1800 hours, not wanting to push her luck with Shepard. When she got there she couldn't help but smile to herself as she saw both Kelly and Lexi sat back on their respective bunks, neither of them looked particularly happy and they were talking together in hushed voices.

Lexi looked up "_You come to break us out?"_ she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"_Oh good idea."_ added Kelly "_Starting to go a bit stir crazy in here."_

"_What and fall under the wrath of Shepard? You have got to be kidding me." _Karrigan replied "_I don't want to end up in there with you."_

"_Smart choice."_ A voice said from behind her.

Karrigan spun around "_Shepard! Sorry I mean Captain." _she groaned inwardly at her slip. Shepard stared at her not needing to say anything, Karrigan snapped to attention whilst Kelly and Lexi both got down off their bunks and assumed the same stance.

Shepard lowered the barrier to the cell and entered "_I seem to be suffering from deja vu ladies. I'm sure we were in this exact position just a couple of days ago."_

Behind her Karrigan frowned wondering exactly what Shepard was referring to. Kelly opened her mouth to speak but Shepard cut her off "_This is not a conversation. I don't want to hear a word. Not an explanation, not an excuse. You two have been nothing but trouble since you got here and now it seems that you._" she turned to face Karrigan "_are adding to that."_

"_I..." _Karrigan started to speak.

"_I said not one word!"_ Shepard interrupted abruptly. "_If I had a choice I'd have all three of you reassigned but right now that's not an option so instead I'm going to take the Doctors advice and put you all to the test."_ she grinned wickedly "_We leave in an hour. Shower, suit up, grab your gear and be on the Kodiak at 1900 hours. No excuses and don't be late."_ She turned and left leaving the three marines looking at each other.

"_Why do I get the feeling this is going to be bad."_ Lexi grumbled.

"_Cause it probably will be." _stated Kelly "_But you heard her, we've got a lot to do to be ready. Especially when we aren't sure what we are getting ready for._"

Karrigan gave a small grin, Kelly looked at her quizzically "_Something funny?"_

"_No. Just think this could be fun."_ replied Karrigan.

"_Fun?" _Lexi repeated incredulously "_Oh gods help us if you think this is going to be fun."_

Kelly couldn't help but chuckle at Lexi's despair, she pushed her out of the cell "_C'mon let's go. Ya never know.." _she said grinning at Karrigan "_maybe Karrigan is right and it will be fun."_

"_Oh not you as well." _groaned Lexi as she left the brig. Kelly and Karrigan followed behind her sharing a smile as they listened to her chunter.


	18. No Way Out

When they reached the Kodiak loaded up with gear, armed and suited up Shepard briefed them on the mission. Shepard had a mission to carry out on Menae, one of the moons that orbited the Turian homeworld, and on their approach they had intercepted an emergency request for medical supplies to an outlying post. The sheer number of Reapers in the immediate area meant that a ship drop was out of the question, which meant that the only other option meant sending someone in with them, or ignoring the request. There was no way that Shepard was going to ignore it, not she thought at the time, when she had the ideal candidates for the job. The mission would require teamwork, skill and perhaps a pinch of luck and was the perfect test for her new squad.

She assigned two large backpacks of supplies to Kelly and Lexi and gave them their target destination, explaining that they would have to cross open ground to get to the outpost and that the area was currently overrun with Reapers so they would have their work cut out. They entered the Kodiak and took their seats as they waited for clearance to leave the Normandy. Kelly and Lexi were sat side by side but Karrigan, after following them into the shuttle, ignored the space that Kelly had left for her and sat as far away as she could get. In addition to them was Shepard and her team, Liara and Vega, whilst Cortez was piloting the craft.

Karrigan sat back with her black widow resting by her side, she shut her eyes and immediately fell asleep.

"_Well ain't she a fun traveling companion._" Lexi commented.

"_Sure seems that way."_ Kelly said her mind elsewhere "_Hey Lexi I was thinking..."_

"_Blimey steady on there Kels." _

Kelly ignored the cheeky comment too engrossed with her idea "_Let me look at your omnitool."_

"_Why?"_ Lexi looked at her suspiciously.

"_Remember I told you I had been working on some modifications for your cloak well I think one of them might come in useful on this mission."_

"_What modification?"_

Kelly huffed impatiently "_It would be quicker if you just let me do it._" when Lexi remained silent and didn't move Kelly realised she was going to have to explain. "_Fine. Right well I think I can rig it so that the cloak can hide more than one person."_

"_Oh now that could be useful."_ Lexi shuffled closer and held out her arm so Kelly could access her omnitool, as she reached out to touch it though Lexi pulled back "_You'd better not break it."_

"_Please." _Kelly sniffed as she grabbed Lexi's arm back and activated the omnitool "_I am not going to break it."_ She set to work a grin on her face "_Alright. Ohhh...look at all these algorithms and code levels. This is gonna be fun."_ she continued to mutter under her breath as she became absorbed "_Now it's really only a matter of altering the field radius and then applying a buffer to extend the duration."_

Lexi sighed hoping this journey wasn't going to take too long.

* * *

When the shuttle landed Shepard got up and looked at Kelly and Lexi who were still sat with their heads together as Kelly finished modding Lexi's cloak.

"_There got it."_ Kelly said triumphantly.

"_At Last."_ replied Lexi "_Now let's hope it works."_

"_Hope? You cheeky..."_

"_C'mon ladies. Enough of your chit chat. These Reapers ain't gonna kill themselves." _Shepard interjected.

Kelly glanced up at Shepard "_Got a drink for the condemned Captain?"_ she asked with a crooked grin.

"_Yeah it's called get your ass out of the shuttle and start killing Reapers."_

"_C'mon Lexi, Karrigan... boss lady has made up her mind. I don't suppose sorry would change anything?"_

Lexi looked at Kelly in surprise "_Now you are going to try the sorry card..."_

"_No I don't suppose it would." _Shepard replied ignoring Lexi. As Karrigan went to walk past her to get to the door Shepard put out her arm to stop her "_Not you. Light duties were what the Doc cleared you for so take a seat, we'll drop you off higher up and you can give them sniper support."_ she turned back to the others and waved them out of the door "_Off you go then."_

Lexi drew out her shotgun and dropped out of the shuttle, taking a knee she scanned the area for the moment it was clear. Two thuds followed as Shepard pushed out the backpacks, Lexi her eyes still roaming the area called out to Kelly "_Oi Kels I am NOT going on my own."_

"_I'm a coming, I'm a coming."_ Kelly flipped a quick salute and a crooked grin at Shepard "_Catch ya later Captain."_ and then stepped out next to Lexi, she dropped to her knee, her assault rifle in her hand.

Whilst Lexi kept watch, and the shuttle left them behind, Kelly activated her omnitool and sent her drone Riley out to scan further ahead.

"_Guess it's just you and me then darlin'"_ said Lexi as she hoisted one of the packs onto her back "_Can I suggest we get moving as I suspect that shuttle will have attracted attention."_

Kelly finished with her omnitool, her drone now patrolling in front of them and their course now set. She looked at Lexi only to be distracted by a low rumbling noise. They both turned to look. Running, well more lurching, towards them was a swarm of husks "_Oh crap!" _exclaimed Kelly as she hurriedly threw the other pack on her back "_I'm a thinking it's too late."_

* * *

Karrigan sat back down when told to by Shepard, and immediately shut her eyes and pretended to sleep not wanting to play this game that the Captain seemed to be so insistent on. Shepard frowned as she watched Karrigan concerned at her disinterest and her apparent disregard for her squadmates, she went to say something but Liara caught her eye and shook her head slightly. Knowing that Liara normally read these things better than her she shut her mouth and went and stood by Cortez, a single tap on his shoulder letting him know that they can go. The door slid shut, leaving Kelly and Lexi behind, and the shuttle lifted off smoothly. Ten minutes later and they landed on a plateau that overlooked their earlier landing zone.

"_O'Connell move ...this is your stop." _Karrigan stood up at Shepard's words. "_You should have a clear view from this vantage point but be away from immediate danger."_ Karrigan scowled, not wanting special treatment, and moved out of the shuttle her sniper rifle on her back and her assault rifle in her hand.

"_We'll be back for you tomorrow. Have fun!"_ Shepard said with an evil grin.

The door closed and Karrigan was left in a mini dust storm as the shuttle departed. She scanned the area quickly her assault rifle poised and ready, then when she was convinced it was clear she booted up her omnitool and pinpointed Kelly and Lexi's location. A rock formation to her right was where she choose to settle in. It gave her a clear line of sight to the area below and it afforded her some cover should she come under fire.

She settled down in the prone position, her assault rifle laying on the floor on her right hand side. It was within easy reach so she could pick it up, roll and fire if she came under close quarters attack. She drew her black widow and expanded it out as she went through a well rehearsed routine as she set it up and checked it over. Happy to be alone with her sniper rifle she grinned before she double checked the location of the others. Setting her sights she looked down her scope to find them. She spotted them and a whole heap of husks almost immediately. "_I knew this was going to be fun." _she said to herself with a satisfied grin.


	19. Not So Friendly Friendlies

"_Only one thing for it..."_ Lexi shouted out as she charged headlong into the Reapers. Her shotgun expertly spraying the area taking down husk after husk.

"_Where the hell are you going? Fuck. Why can't it ever go smooth?"_ Kelly cursed as she ran after Lexi, her assault rifle in her hand, and into the maelstrom "_Are you insane?"_ she shouted out.

Lexi flashed her a grin "_Insane?"_ she asked as she continued taking out husks, ducking and weaving as she avoided their flailing limbs "_Probably."_

Kelly growled, partly in amusement and partly in frustration, as she let rip with her assault rifle. Although massively outnumbered their combined attack was devastating as they cut their way through the husks. They moved as quick as they could, never standing still for a second as the numbers didn't seem to dwindle no matter how many they shot.

"_Please tell me we are at least heading in the right direction." _Lexi's words were short and emphatic as she dodged and shot. Her aim low, the spray from her shotgun allowing her to take out the legs of two or three husks at a time.

Kelly came up behind her "_Yeah. C'mon the base is just ahead. Follow me."_

Lexi didn't waste her breath trying to respond as Kelly passed her and cleared a path to the compound gate her combat drone to her side and a turret laid out behind them to give them some cover. When they reached the gates Kelly pounded on them with her fist, Lexi sighed silently in relief as the husks paused their attack obviously wary of approaching the Turian outpost.

"_Hey guys! We're friendlies. Got your med supplies. Let us in."_ Kelly shouted out as she banged on the gates again.

"_Go away."_ A voice rumbled back at her.

"_What?"_ Kelly asked incredulously "_We've got the supplies you requested. Let us in!"_

"_No...not until those Reapers clear the area." _

"_You have got to be kidding me."_ Lexi scowled.

Kelly shook her head "_They have been here all the time and they've dropped back for now. Open the gates."_

"_NO."_ they heard footsteps trudge away.

"_Really?"_ Lexi spat out her words in disgust "_Why you..." _she stopped as she saw Kelly crouching down by the door her omnitool lit and whirring "_Ah...what are you doing exactly? Cause we ain't got time to play around."_

"_Opening the gate."_ Kelly replied without looking up. She activated her drone, Riley, and sent it off to protect one side of them. "_There you and Riley cover me and I'll get this open...shouldn't take too long."_

Lexi glanced at Riley "_You know naming your drone is kinda weird?"_

"_You want to have that conversation now?"_ As Kelly spoke a group of husks came running towards Lexi.

"_No. Not right now but ...Oi! Watch out!"_ Lexi ducked as a rocket from Riley skimmed past her head ploughing into the oncoming husks "_Thought Riley was on our side."_

"_Oh quit ya complaining."_ Kelly grinned crookedly as she continued working on the door "_She missed you."_

"_Only just."_ Lexi snapped out as her shotgun fired "_Ohhh...Marauders come to join the party huh?" _two head shots later and both were down. "_Kels can you hurry it up a bit, getting a little busy here and we haven't got all day."_

"_Almost there. Got two more pins to reposition."_

* * *

Karrigan observed from above as Kelly and Lexi forced their way through the husks. Although normally more than happy to shoot at everyone and everything the speed the pair were moving at and the erratic way they were ducking and diving made it impossible for Karrigan to assist them. She could only look on as they approached the Turian outpost, she frowned when it became clear that the Turians were not going to let them in.

"_You have got be fucking joking"_ Karrigan cursed "_Let them in."_ She saw Kelly crouch down and start to work on the door "_Good thinking girl."_ she muttered "_Let yourself in. Oh and look now I can help."_ she said happily as she started to take out the husks and marauders that Lexi and Kelly's combat drone were trying to hold at bay.

She fired round after round into the Reapers ranks, whittling down their numbers so that Lexi and the drone didn't get over run in their defence of Kelly. She watched as Kelly threw Lexi some more ammo clips. She caught them and continued firing without pause, loading the ammo smoothly without missing a beat. Karrigan raised an eyebrow impressed by their teamwork as she pulled the trigger and removed a marauders head from it's body with a perfect head shot.

"_Not bad." _she muttered "_Not bad at all."_

* * *

"_Ah-ha! Gotcha."_ Kelly cried out jubilantly as the doors started to creak and groan as they swung open. "_Coming?"_

"_Thought you'd never ask."_ Lexi quipped back. She started to move backwards her shotgun leaving a trail of bodies in its wake.

Kelly spun round on one knee and brought her assault rifle up to bear "_Go! Go! I've got your back."_

Lexi turned and ran towards the partially opened door, as she began to cover the ground between her and Kelly. Kelly gave her covering fire, firing off precise bursts into the Reapers, each one taking it's toll, each one a head shot. She stood up and stepped back into the compound, pausing her fire long long enough to hit her omnitool and start the sequence to close the base doors again "_Lexi move!"_

Hearing her cry Lexi dived in through the closing doors and leant back heavily against the compound wall "_Good job."_ she gasped breathlessly.

"_Damn straight." _Kelly replied with a grin as she leaned on the wall next to Lexi "_It's getting dark. How about we find someone to give these supplies to and then kip down for the night?" _

Lexi shrugged off her supply pack and slid down the wall until she was sat on the floor "_Just here seems fine to me."_

Kelly opened her mouth to reply but was interrupted "_Who the fuck are you?"_ Kelly turned to find herself staring down the barrel of a gun. A gun held by a rather pissed off looking Turian, she looked around quickly to see they were surrounded.

She growled in anger and swatted the offending gun away "_I am not in the mood for this." _she snapped as she grabbed her supply pack and threw it down next to Lexi's. "_We have just put our lives on the line to get the med supplies here that you requested. And what happens when we get here? Some jumped up little guard on the gate decides not to let us in. Who the..."_ she stopped as she felt Lexi's hand on her shoulder and heard her whisper softly "_Easy does it."_

Biting back her anger she said nothing more but the Turian commander who had stood back as his guards apprehended these intruders had heard more than enough. He stepped forward bristling with anger. "_Who was on guard duty here?"_

One of the Turians stepped forward and saluted "_I was Sir."_

"_Is what this marine said true?"_

"_Ummm..."_

"_I said is it true?"_ his voice left no doubt of his anger.

The Turian soldier winced at his words then gulped before answering "_Yes sir."_

His next words were unrepeatable as he berated the Turian for his actions, Kelly and Lexi exchanged an amused look before he addressed them "_I apologise."_ He said "_Please come this way we have somewhere you can bunk for the night if you wish."_

"_Thank you Commander. We accept." _Lexi accepted his offer before Kelly could air any more of her views about the way they had been treated.

He nodded and made his excuses as he went to tend to matters elsewhere, leaving them in the capable hands of his second in command. Kelly shrugged Lexi's hand off her shoulder and followed their escort, casting a damning look at the turian who had obstructed their admittance.

"_Let it go." _said Lexi softly "_Let it go."_

* * *

When Karrigan saw them enter the compound, and relative safety, she checked her immediate area and then leaned back against the rock formation and let out a deep sigh. "_Don't you worry guys. I'll sit here all night and cover your butts. Bet you hadn't even thought of me through all that."_ she muttered to herself, knowing even as she spoke that her words although probably true were also harsh.

She groaned as she realised that although they were safely tucked up in the Turian outpost she was out here alone and that meant no sleep. Settling back down she activated the night vision mod on her scope and with pinpoint accuracy took off the head of a husk that was approaching the compound gates. Karrigan grinned in satisfaction as the head exploded "_Oh well at least I have something to keep me occupied."_ She spent the rest of the night fending off sleep and honing her sniper skills.


	20. New Orders

Lexi woke early, just before sunrise. She moved silently wanting to allow Kelly to grab more sleep. The compound was quiet, guards patrolled the walls with huge lights illuminating the approaches to the base. She made her way to the gates that they had entered through last night and entered the guard tower, there was a single tired looking Turian up there keeping watch. He nodded in acknowledgment at her arrival.

"_All good?"_ Lexi asked.

"_Quiet night."_ the Turian replied gruffly "_There's someone out there with a sniper rifle taking out the Reapers as they get near the gates."_ he pointed towards a husk that was lumbering towards them "_Watch."_

She peered over the wall her eyes on the husk he pointed out "_A sniper huh?"_ she grinned as she watched the husk get taken out by a single, perfect head shot. "_Well, well will you look at that. Very nice Karrigan, very nice indeed."_

"_Karrigan?"_

"_Our other squad member, she was giving us covering fire yesterday. I guess she's still out there and keeping it clear for us."_

"_Is she now?" _said Kelly from directly behind her.

"_Fuck Kels make a girl jump why don't ya."_ Lexi grumbled.

Kelly grinned and slapped her on the back "_And a good mornin' to you too. We having fun?"_

Kelly's grin is infectious and Lexi can't help but grin back "_Karrigan sure is."_ As she spoke another headless husk hit the dirt outside the gates and their comms buzzed into life "_Come in Reinhart, Soldarn. You guys reading me? If you can hear me Shepard has sent a rendezvous point."_ their omnitools both beeped as Karrigan forwarded the coordinates. "_There's a remote satellite dish on the route that the Reapers have been utilising. Shepard wants us to destroy it and then head to the LZ."_

"_Copy that." _said Kelly "_Can you maintain cover for us?"_

"_Affirmative, there's a rock formation 50 meters to my right if I hole up there I should be able to have eyes on you."_

"_Good. Go."_ Kelly responded as she turned to Lexi "_You up for some more fun?"_

"_Always. Though we'd best bid fond farewells first."_ Lexi nodded towards the Turian Commander who was in deep conversation with one of the guards on the other side of the gate. Kelly groaned as Lexi gently shoved her towards the commander.

"_Leaving us already?"_ He asked "_We could do with the help if you are willing to stay. You proved yourselves to be more than capable yesterday."_

Kelly looked outraged "_Yesterday you wouldn't..."_ she stopped with a sharp intake of breath as Lexi elbowed her hard in the ribs.

"_Sorry commander. We've got new orders from Commander Shepard."_ as Lexi spoke she could hear Kelly muttering about these damn Turians. It was clear from the look on the Turian's face that he could hear her too but was holding his tongue after the actions of his guard the previous day. It took all of Lexi's willpower not to laugh, she snapped off a sharp salute "_If you'll excuse us Sir. I wish you luck."_

Slightly flummoxed by Kelly's continuing muttering he bid them farewell and good luck, then turned and walked away leaving them with the night guard.

"_You ready then Kels? Done enough moaning?"_

"_You did hear him right?" _Kelly snapped back "_Wanting us to stay when they wouldn't even let us in yesterday."_

"_Oh yeah I heard both of you very clearly."_ Lexi looked to the guard "_Think we all did didn't we?"_

He nodded, a hint of a grin on his face "_Yes ma'am that we did."_

"_Oh." _said Kelly before blustering defensively "_Well he deserved it."_

Lexi laughed "_Yes. Yes he did. Now are we going or do you need longer to moan?" _she asked cheekily.

Kelly chuckled "_I'm always ready you know that and I can moan as I go."_

"_Oh Goddess help me do I know both of those things." _Lexi sighed she turned to the guard "_If you'd be so kind as to let us out."_

The Turian opened the gates just enough to let them both slip out, then shut them behind them. Kelly sent Riley out to scout ahead of them as she led the way to the satellite dish, her assault rifle in her hand. Lexi followed close behind both hands firmly wrapped around her shotgun.

* * *

Worryingly the route to the satellite was quiet, uneventful. Something that made Lexi nervous, very nervous "_I don't like this."_ she said as she took out only the second husk they had encountered so far "_I don't like this at all."_

"_Quit complaining."_

"_Well that's rich. I've had to listen to you moan about those Turians all the way."_

"_That's different."_ Kelly said grumpily.

"_Oh of course it is."_ Lexi responded sarcastically. Kelly glared at her.

"_Will you two stop your bickering."_ Karrigan's exasperation was clear as her voice buzzed over the comms. "_I've had to listen to both of you, now get your heads back in the game. We have a job to do."_

"_Says the marine lounging around in comfort whilst we do the hard work._" Lexi's comeback was short and snappy.

"_I am not 'lounging around'. I'm covering your arses."_

"_You laying down?" _asked Kelly with a sly grin at Lexi "_Laying down watching us do all the running around?"_

Lexi bit back a chuckle at Kelly's words. "_No. Well yes but..."_ Karrigan stuttered to a halt knowing there wasn't a good answer to Kelly's question "_You two are going to drive me crazy."_ she chuntered as she continued to scope out the area in front of Lexi and Kelly. "_STOP!"_ The abrupt change in tone made both Kelly and Lexi stop in their tracks.

"_What?"_ Kelly asked.

"_You've got company ahead, around the next rock formation. There's four, no make that five marauders and more than a fair few husks stationed between you and the dish. And oh fuck I think that's a brute too."_ She lined up her sights on one of the marauders "_Let me whittle down the numbers for you."_

"_NO!"_ hissed both Kelly and Lexi forcibly. "_Don't do it."_ said Kelly as she looked at a grinning Lexi "_You thinking what I'm thinking?"_

"_Hell yeah." _Lexi's grin broadened.

Groaning in frustration at their vagueness Karrigan spoke "_Would anyone care to enlighten me?" _

"_Hold your fire Karrigan." _Kelly replied "_We're gonna use Lexi's cloak. I modded it so it should cover us both for long enough to get through them. If we move fast enough."_

"_Oh we'll move fast enough don't you worry about that."_

"_Are you crazy?"_ said Karrigan "_If it fails whilst you are moving it will leave you in the middle of a shitstorm."_

"_Crazy?"_ Lexi laughed "_Probably. You?"_ she asked Kelly.

"_You know it."_ Kelly grinned crookedly "_Karrigan we are gonna do this so hold your fire. Unless, of course, the cloak does fail then feel free to shoot." _Kelly bit back a laugh as Karrigan's rude, very rude, reply came back at them.

"_Well going by that language she's definitely a marine."_ Lexi said "_So we gonna do this?"_

Kelly nodded "_Yes. But I didn't have time to link our omnitools correctly, and it will take too long now, so we will have to keep in contact whilst cloaked."_

Lexi raised an eyebrow "_You want to hold my hand huh?"_

Kelly ignored her hoping her slight blush would go unnoticed. "_The cloak should last for about five or six minutes, so we will have to move fast."_

A small smile came over Lexi's face at Kelly's blush. She shipped her shotgun and drew out her smg. At Kelly's quizzical look she shrugged "_One-handed shotgun ain't happening, too much kickback."_

"_Ah gotcha."_ Kelly took Lexi's left hand in her right one "_Ready then?"_

Lexi glanced down at their linked hands before her marine training kicked in "_I'll lead. We are going to stop and go. And when we go we are going to go fast and stop sudden. I need you to trust me, to follow my lead without hesitating. Don't say anything, don't shoot anything unless the cloak drops and try not to touch anything. The no shooting thing goes for you too Karrigan."_

Kelly nodded, surprised at the way that Lexi had taken command "_Understood."_ Karrigan didn't deem Lexi's comment worthy of a reply so said only two words "_Good luck."_

Lexi looked at Kelly as she activated the cloak "_We don't need luck."_ she whispered softly as the cloak shimmered into place. She squeezed Kelly's hand and led them confidently towards the Reapers.

* * *

As Karrigan watched them vanish from sight she held her breath without even realising it. She had no way of tracking their movement now the cloak was throwing it's dampening field around the two marines. "_I don't like this."_ she mumbled to herself "_I don't like this one bit."_

All she could do was watch the time tick down until the cloak would fail and keep a close eye on the area that she knew they were moving through. She growled softly as she saw another swarm of husks heading their way.

"_Move quickly guys, move quickly."_ she whispered under her breath as her finger remained poised over the trigger of her sniper rifle ready to fire in an instant.

* * *

Lexi moved her and Kelly as fast as she dared. Shorts bursts of movement had always served her well when doing this type of covert operation. She paused between the bursts and gave herself a second to formulate the next part of her route and avoid trouble. Or at least that was the theory, on more than one occasion she had had to adapt and alter her plan as a husk or marauder stumbled and lurched into their path.

Together they covered the ground quickly and silently. Lexi controlled their movement with light touches to Kelly's hand, thankful that Kelly didn't object to her control and followed her every movement. It took them less than four minutes to pass through the hoard of Reapers. Four minutes that felt like a lifetime.

As they got clear Lexi pulled them down behind a large rock and deactivated the cloak, watching as Kelly reappeared before her eyes. "Fun?" she asked quietly with a slight grin on her face.

"That was not my idea of fun." Kelly said softly but emphatically "Did you see how close they were?"

"See?" Lexi ran a hand through her hair it came out covered in slime "That brute." she shuddered "I swear he blew his nose on my head. Damn I wish I wore a helmet rather than this visor."

Kelly choked back laughter "Oh gross."

"Ummm...you guys anytime you want to stop holding hands and actually carry on with this mission would be good." Karrigan's said.

Kelly and Lexi both looked down in surprise at their still linked hands, both letting go hurriedly at Karrigan's observation. Neither one of them commented back to Karrigan and Kelly, regaining her composure first, resumed control her reply clipped, efficient "How much further is it? Are we clear?"

"The dish is about a hundred meters to your North. It's clear but I need to reposition again to get a clearer line of sight." there was a hint of amusement in Karrigan's voice but she kept her thoughts to herself.

"Understood. Let us know when you are in position and we'll move out."


	21. A Sticky End

They sat in silence for a few minutes when their coms buzzed back into life "_I'm in position. You're good to go."_

"_On our way." _Kelly activated her omnitool and sent Riley out in front of them as she got to her feet. Lexi stood up, once more armed with her shotgun and they hot footed it to the dish.

"_We have to destroy this?"_ Kelly asked Karrigan as her and Lexi stood in the shadow of the dish "_You're sure?"_

Karrigan sighed "_Of course I'm sure. Now can we get a move on I for one have had enough of it here."_

Lexi raised and eyebrow "_Boy she's tetchy when she's tired, obviously needs her beauty sleep."_

"_I heard that." _Karrigan growled at her.

"_You were meant to."_ Lexi said with a grin as she delved into the thigh pocket on her armour. "_I've got this."_ she said to Kelly as she kneeled at the base of the dish.

"_You sure?"_ Kelly asked Lexi.

"_Yes I'm sure."_ Lexi didn't stop or even look up as she continued her work "_Cover me. I'll be good just need five minutes to do this. Five undisturbed minutes preferably."_ she said pointedly.

"_Fine." _Kelly replied as she took cover and scanned the area.

"_Umm...Kelly..." _Karrigan's voice buzzed in her ear "_You've got company."_

"_What? Where? Thought you said it was clear."_

"_Well it was clear. Isn't so clear now though. Seems those Reapers you sneaked past are headed your way."_

"_Great. Just great. Lexi you need to move quicker."_

"_I'm going as quick as I can without blowing us up too."_ she glanced up and looked back towards Kelly as the ground below her seemed to rumble "_Kelly I need another couple of minutes to finish this off."_

"_You heard her Karrigan, we need to keep this area clear for a couple of minutes. Feel free to help whenever you want." _ Kelly took a knee and aimed her assault rifle at the husks that were approaching. She strafed her rifle at knee level to take out their legs. The front row of husks fell to the floor writhing as they tried to continue on their useless legs. The ones behind stumbled into them adding to the chaos as Kelly continued to fire into them.

Then the ground shook again and the brute responsible lumbered into view, it knocked the husks that were blocking its path out of it's way with large sweeping swipes of it's arms. Kelly let off another round of ammunition then ducked back into cover "_Karrigan."_ she cried out "_Anytime today!"_

High above them Karrigan added her gunfire into the mix taking out marauders and husks. She saw the brute mere seconds before she heard Kelly, her face lit up as she saw it a wicked grin settling into place. She pulled out a round of building buster ammo and loaded it into her sniper rifle "_Come on baby let's see what we can do to help." _she pulled the trigger smoothly and watched in delight as she hit the brute. Blood, gore and slime exploded across the immediate area covering everything "_Boo ya! Take that you big fucking brute. There ya go Kelly I told you I had you covered."_ she said as she laughed happily.

Kelly tried to shake off the bits of brute that had rained down on her but they clung to her armour like glue "_Yeah I didn't mean literally covered."_ she grumbled.

Karrigan laughed "_Opps...I bought you some time though."_ she said "_They have backed off for now."_

"_Fucking gross."_ Kelly continued to grumble low under her breath when she felt Lexi tug at her hand.

"_You somewhere under all that crap?" _Lexi grinned cheekily before adding _"Cause we've gotta go. Thirty seconds and that's gonna blow. Karrigan get moving." _Lexi hit her cloak again her hand tightly grasping Kelly's hand she moved away at break neck speed pulling Kelly along behind her.

"_On my way."_ Karrigan replied as she collapsed down her sniper rifle and shipped it on her back. Her assault rifle in hand she made her way to her LZ, relieved to see the Kodiak hovering and waiting for her. She ran towards it and jumped on it "_Go Cortez!"_ she shouted the instant her feet hit the deck. He didn't need telling twice moving off fast and plummeting the Kodiak down into the valley below to the LZ for Kelly and Lexi.

As the shuttle landed an almighty explosion ripped the dish apart and sent shock waves reverberating through the land.

"_Oh fuck!" _Exclaimed Kelly as the force of the shock wave threw both her and Lexi forward and off their feet, tumbling through the air. She lost her grip on Lexi's hand, the cloak immediately dropped off her and Karrigan watched as she hit the deck hard. Her breath escaped her as the impact knocked the wind out of her. The cloak held over Lexi until she impacted with the floor, she landed maybe five meters to Kelly's right the cloak spluttering and failing as she hit the ground.

Karrigan's eyes flicked to behind them as she looked for the inevitable wave of Reapers but there was nothing to see. The explosion of the dish apparently taking out them as well, she sighed in relief as she jumped down out of the shuttle.

Kelly rolled to her feet, shaken but knowing she had to keep moving, she raced across to where Lexi was laying "_Lexi. Hey. You with me?"_

Lexi opened an eye and looked up breathless from the impact "_Did we just fly?"_

Kelly smiled as she grasped Lexi's hand and pulled her to her feet "_I believe we just did."_

Lexi leaned against her "_Flying was ok." _she said raggedly "_Didn't like the landing so much."_

"_You are crazy."_ Kelly said softly "_And I think you might have overdone that explosion Lexi."_

"_Did you see all that company we had?"_ Lexi answered.

Karrigan ran up to them both "_Are you guys ok?" _

Kelly nodded "_Yeah. Thanks. Well except for this." _She pulled off a bit of brute slime and flicked it at Karrigan who dodged out of the way a wicked grin on her face.

"_Welcome."_ she replied "_Now can I suggest we go before the survivors regroup and come looking for us."_

"_Good idea." _Kelly replied "_Lexi?"_

"_I'm good." _she said as she straightened up and let go of Kelly's hand "_Let's go."_

They moved off together and entered the shuttle, after exchanging a glance Lexi and Karrigan both sat as far away from Kelly as they could.

"_Hey why doesn't anyone want to sit with me?"_ Kelly asked mystified.

Both Lexi and Karrigan laughed as a voice came back to them from the front of the shuttle that perfectly answered Kelly's question. "_What the fuck is that smell?"_

* * *

Karrigan fell asleep almost as soon as the shuttle took off much to the astonishment of Lexi "_Well she really is good company isn't she? Chatty as."_

Laughing Kelly replied as she pulled and flicked more slime off her armour "_Give her a break, she's probably been up all night and..." _she removed what looked like a large lump of brute intestines off her suit and threw it on the floor, it landed with a wet thud "_...you can always come and sit next to me."_

"_Yeah...no. You smell bad."_

"_Oi! It's not me it's this stuff."_ she prodded at the lump of intestines with her foot, scowling as it stuck to her boot "_You have got to be kidding me."_ she shook her foot trying to dislodge it as she glared at Lexi who was now laughing uncontrollably. "_That is so NOT helping Lexi."_

Between laughs Lexi gasped out a reply "_I was meant to be helping?"_

Kelly cast an evil look her way "_Apparently not."_ she began to moan under her breath, her words low and inaudibly, which just left Lexi more amused.

Mercifully the trip back to the Normandy was quick. Cortez left the pilots seat and left the Kodiak at double quick time his nose wrinkled in distaste at the smell emanating from Kelly. "_You guys had better get rid of that smell and clean this girl. I do not want her smelling still when I take her out again."_ He looked pointedly at Kelly as he spoke and then left in a hurry wanting to escape the ripe aroma.

"_Was he talking about you Kels or the Kodiak?" _Lexi asked with a cheeky grin.

"_Still not helping." _Kelly grumbled.

"_Still not trying to."_ Lexi quipped back as she grabbed her gear and jumped down out of the shuttle. Spying something she grinned to herself and ran over to pick it up "_I could help if you want though."_ She said with a grin.

"_Well that would be nice."_ said Kels who wasn't even looking as she picked her gear up. She stepped out of the shuttle and got hit hard in the guts with water from the jet spray that Lexi was holding. "_Fuck Lexi!"_ she shouted as the water soaked her, the armour dissipating the impact but making the water and crud that covered her flick off in all directions.

"_What?" _Lexi asked innocently "_I'm helping you get all clean."_

"_You have a funny idea of help."_ Kelly replied though even she could see it was actually working, although as Lexi turned the spray on her legs it took all her effort to remain standing. Karrigan jumped out next to her and got splattered with the last of the crud that was flying off Kelly's hardsuit.

"_Oh!"_ Lexi said gleefully "_Guess we need to do you too." _She turned the spray on Karrigan, Kelly started to join in Lexi's laughter but Karrigan was not impressed.

"_I do not need that." _she strode past Lexi glaring at her "_I'm quite capable of getting myself clean without your help."_

"_Aw come on..."_ Lexi said as Kelly looked on in surprise. Lexi turned the hose on the inside of the Kodiak and carefully cleaned sprayed the floor down before shutting the jet spray off. By this time Karrigan had entered the lift and left them to it. "_She really doesn't like me does she?"_ Lexi said quietly not realising that Kelly could hear her.

Cuffing Lexi gently round the back of the head Kelly spoke "_She really doesn't know you and sometimes, just sometimes, you do take things too far."_

"_Guess so." _Lexi said as she put the jet spray away and then walked across to her workbench. She laid out her weapons and then started stripping off her grimy armour "_Where's she going anyway?"_

"_Know so." _Kelly replied as she did the same grimacing as she saw that despite the jet clean that her armour was stilled ditched. "_My best bet is that she wanted first dibs for the shower."_

"_But she ain't even splatted with crap."_ Lexi said incredulously.

Kelly shrugged "_Oh well."_

Their hard suits laid out on the floor, they headed off to the showers dressed in their under suits. They checked the mess on the way but there was no sign of Karrigan "_EDI"_ Kelly said "_Can you tell me where marine O'Connell is?"_

EDI replied immediately "_Marine O'Connell is in the gym."_

"_The gym?"_ Lexi said "_We didn't get enough exercise on Menae?"_

"_Yes the gym." _EDI answered "_And I do not know if you got enough exercise."_

Kelly laughed at Lexi's face when EDI answered her rhetorical question "_Thanks EDI that will be all."_ she turned to Lexi "_C'mon you... showers and then food, I'm starving."_

Nodding in agreement, as her stomach chose that exact moment to rumble, Lexi followed Kelly, when both their omnitools beeped. Lexi stopped and checked the message "_Shepard." she glanced up at Kelly._

"_Yeah. Oh well guess food will have to wait, though we at least have time to get cleaned up."_

"_Guess so."_ groaned Lexi "_Guess so."_


	22. Time Out

When Kelly and Lexi approached the briefing room, as requested by Shepard, the senior crew members started to mill out. They all had their heads down, there was the odd worried look and hushed voices as they discussed whatever it was that Shepard had called them in for.

"_That doesn't look like a happy crew."_ whispered Lexi to Kelly as they stood to one side to let them pass.

"_No it doesn't."_

As they waited for Liara, the last to leave, to pass them Karrigan strolled by. She nodded at Kelly but ignored Lexi who elbowed Kelly sharply in the ribs "_See I told you she doesn't like me."_

Kelly didn't answer rolling her eyes at Lexi and pushing her towards the briefing room instead "_C'mon Shepard's waiting."_

They followed Karrigan in and found Shepard leaning heavily, her palms flat down, on the central table pouring over a map that was being projected down onto it.

"_That doesn't look like Menae."_ Kelly observed quietly forgetting that the Captain had razor sharp hearing.

Shepard looked up directly at Kelly "_Good spot. it isn't Menae we're done there for now. The medical supplies were gratefully received..." _Kelly raised an eyebrow at that comment but kept her council "_and the dish was destroyed leaving the Reapers at a disadvantage in that area."_ she paused before adding "_Well done."_

Lexi and Karrigan said nothing as Kelly grinned and replied "_Thank you Captain."_

"_Creep."_ Lexi hissed.

Kelly studiously ignored Lexi's comment as Shepard looked back down at the map to hide her grin.

"_So where is this Captain?"_ Kelly asked as she stepped forward and looked down closely at the map.

Shepard glanced up "_Good question. This is our next stop. Tuchanka."_

"_Tuchanka?" _Kelly said in surprise "_The Krogan homeworld?"_

"_The very one." _said Shepard "_I need to see Wrex I have a proposition for him."_

"_You are going to proposition Wrex? Really?"_ Lexi said with a grin unable to stop herself.

Shepard couldn't help but laugh "_Yes I am and whilst I am doing that I have a mission for you and your squad." _She directed the last part of her sentence to Kelly.

Karrigan bristled slightly as Shepard acknowledged Kelly as their squad leader. "_What do you want us to do?"_ she asked her tone clipped.

Her tone didn't go unnoticed by either Kelly or Lexi, who exchanged a sideways glance, as Shepard started to detail their mission.

* * *

When Shepard had finished and was happy that they knew what they were doing she left them alone in the briefing room.

"_I take it the boss trusts us now."_ said Lexi.

"_Yeah seems that way..."_ replied Kelly "_So let's not fuck it up."_

"_Why are you looking at me when you say that?"_ Lexi asked defensively.

"_No reason. No reason at all."_ Kelly grinned crookedly at Lexi then turned to Karrigan "_So we all know what we are doing?"_

"_Yes. A covert op. Joy."_ Karrigan growled at her in frustration.

"_You do like blowing things up don't ya?"_ said Lexi cheekily.

Karrigan looked directly at Lexi as she answered, her head tilted to one side as she appeared to be weighing her up "_Yes I do."_ she paused before adding " _I like to hit things too."_

Lexi frowned "_What's that suppose to mean?"_

Karrigan smirked at her and Kelly seeing Lexi's shoulders tense placed her hand on one of them and interrupted "_You like hitting things huh?"_

"_Yeah. No rules, anything goes sparring. Kickboxing is my thing."_ Karrigan replied.

"_No rules eh?" _Kelly grinned "_I am so up for that."_

"_Now?" _Karrigan challenged.

Kelly laughed "_No not now. You heard Shepard we need to be ready to go in twenty four hours. That means cleaning our gear and the Kodiak and getting some food and sleep. It doesn't mean beating the crap of each other so close to a mission, we need some down time for that."_

"_Wuss." _Karrigan said as she turned and walked out of the room.

"_Well ain't she just the charmer." _said Lexi sarcastically.

Kelly squeezed Lexi's shoulder before letting go of it "_I told you... give her a chance. She's not even settled in yet and she seems good in a fight."_

"_Yeah..."_

"_Lexi!"_

"_What? I said yeah."_ Lexi grumbled.

Kelly shook her head slightly in frustration "_Yes you did but you didn't sound like you meant it."_ she sighed then changed the subject "_Right so food first don't ya think?"_

"_I like your thinking. Food and then perhaps a whiskey."_ Lexi grinned happily at the thought.

"_You are incorrigible."_ Kelly said with a smile.

"_Hell yeah."_ answered a grinning Lexi "_Now didn't you ask me on a dinner date?" _

Kelly laughed "_Like I said incorrigible and no I didn't."_

* * *

The down time as they headed to Tuchanka passed quickly. Most of it split between sleep, cleaning and readying their gear for the next mission. The only one that sleep didn't come to easily was Lexi who, as normal, grabbed the bear minimum that she needed to function.

When Kelly and Karrigan bid her goodnight they presumed that she was going to continue sitting in the observation deck drinking whiskey. Which, to be fair, she did do for all of about ten minutes after they had gone. Just long enough to be sure that the others had actually gone and the coast was clear. At that point she left and made her way to the cargo bay where she started to scrub the Kodiak until it was spotless, clean and free of the smell of rotting brute. Cortez smiled as he saw her hard at work although he was surprised to see her working alone.

"_No help?"_ he called out to her across the bay.

Lexi paused as she glanced up and grinned "_Those two don't help. Hinder more like."_

"_I wouldn't let them hear you say that."_ He laughed.

"_Oh don't worry I won't."_ she said as she went back to her scrubbing.

An hour after she started she sat back on her haunches and surveyed her handiwork "_Not bad at all."_ she mumbled to herself "_Now to have some fun."_

Standing up she walked over to her workbench, picked up her pistol and made her way to the shooting range that took up one corner of the bay. Setting the targets to the maximum distance she spent a further hour honing her marksmanship, the routine of it relaxing and focusing her mind and thoughts. When she finished she retired to the crew quarters and crashed for the night. She woke early, before either Kelly and Karrigan, she quietly made her bunk up then left the crew quarters careful not to wake either of them. After a shower and a short stop of at the mess to grab a drink she sauntered back to the Observation deck, by far her favourite place on the Normandy, and settled down on the floor in front of the couch. Leaning back against it, drink in one hand datapad in the other, she sipped her tea as she reviewed their mission.

When Karrigan and Kelly finally got up and found her, in the same place as they had left her, they were convinced that she had spent the night drinking and then sleeping up there. Lexi grinned at Karrigan's obvious disapproval and Kelly's friendly reprimand and said nothing to dissuade them otherwise.

Later that afternoon, after a morning spent cleaning their gear and going over the mission as they had an hour of free time.

"_Right I'm gonna go put my feet up for an hour then in the Observation deck." _Lexi said.

Karrigan rolled her eyes "_Really? That's all you have to do."_

"_Yep."_ Lexi said as she stood up and walked over to the elevator.

Karrigan grumbled at Lexi's back "_How do you put up with her?"_ she said to Kelly "_She's lazy and unprofessional."_

Kelly didn't get an opportunity as Lexi shouted across the bay "_I heard that. Grumble quieter next time"_ the elevator door shut taking her away.

"_She's good in a fight."_ said Kelly "_Give her a chance."_

"_Yeah right..."_ said Karrigan unconvinced "_I'm going to the gym, think I need to hit something." _ Her eyes were fixed on the elevator doors which has just opened again, her meaning all too clear. "_I'll see you in an hour." _she said as she got up and left.

Growling softly in annoyance at the way that Lexi and Karrigan seemed to be happily winding each other up Kelly sighed and decided she needed to distance herself from them both. She went off to the place she used to escape, engineering, and after a quick chat with Adams lost herself in a console that needed an overhaul.

* * *

An hour later and they were geared up and sat in the shuttle, a very clean shuttle after Lexi's hard work. Kelly looked around "_Who the hell cleaned in here it's spotless? I spent so long getting all that crud out of my armour that I completely forgot about in here."_

Karrigan shrugged "_Not me."_

Lexi looked up when Cortez turned to speak and gave him a miniscule shake of her head, he frowned slightly but understood her meaning. Saying nothing he turned back to the flight controls.

"_Lexi? Did you do this?"_ Kelly asked as Karrigan spluttered at the suggestion. Lexi was just about to answer when Shepard's head peered round the shuttle door.

"_Cortez your run in should be clear. Marines you know what to do. Your time down there is limited so make the most of it and see if it is Cerberus building up a presence down there or if it is just a bunch of merchs."_

"_Yes Captain." _they said in unison much to Shepard's amusement. She banged on the side of the shuttle as she shouted "_Cortez be quick, lots to do."_

Cortez grinned wickedly "_Don't worry Captain. I can so do quick."_

Lexi glanced at Kelly "_I don't like the sound of that." _As she spoke the shuttle doors shut and they left the Normandy. They dropped like a bomb into a steep, fast descent to Tuchanka "_Fuck."_ she said shakily as her stomach leapt into her mouth "_I knew I didn't like the sound of that."_

"_Wuss."_ said Karrigan as her and Kelly both grinned at the roller coaster ride.


	23. Slipping and Sliding

Lexi gave a small sigh of relief when the shuttle finally landed and they were able to disembark. Karrigan raised an eyebrow at her "_Still moaning?"_

"_Did I say anything? Anything at all?" _Lexi snarled back aggravated by the constant teasing Karrigan had subjected her to on the journey.

"_Enough both of you. This is not the time or place., we've got a job to do."_ Kelly said forcibly silencing them both "_And those Krogan's don't exactly look happy to see us."_

Lexi and Karrigan both turned to follow Kelly's gaze. A small band of Krogans were walking towards them, fully armed and looking ready for a fight they made for an intimidating welcoming party. As they got closer one of them could be clearly heard chuntering about the puny humans that had been sent down to help them.

"_Oh this is gonna be fun."_ remarked Lexi softly.

"_And still she moans." _Karrigan muttered only to receive a glare from both Lexi and Kelly.

Luckily for Karrigan before either of them could say anything the Krogan who had been calling them puny spoke "_And they sent three females? Are they trying to insult us?" _he said with a look of contempt.

Kelly bristled at his tone and stepped forward, going eye to eye with him although she had to look up as he was a good ten inches taller than her. "_They sent three marines,"_ she snarled back at him "_because you…."_ she pushed him hard in the chest to emphasise the last word, it took him off guard and caused him to take a step back "_couldn't cope with whatever it is that is out there."_

One of the other Krogan's gave a deep, throaty laugh as he shoved his way past the other one. "_I like you human."_ he said with what looked like a grin. He slapped Kelly on the back, somehow she retained her balance and hid her wince as the air rushed out of her lungs. As she caught her breath he continued to talk "_I am Torban. Come with me."_ He turned and walked back to the camp clearly expecting them to follow.

Kelly turned back to the others "_Guess we'd best follow him then." _

"_Think you have an admirer there Kels." _said Lexi with a grin.

"_Think I have a bruise." _said Kelly as she rolled her shoulders to ease the pain in her back from where Torban had slapped her.

Lexi laughed at her, whilst even Karrigan managed a small smile, as the three of them followed Torban into the camp. He led them to the far side of the outpost and pointed across an open plain. Karrigan removed the scope from her sniper rifle and looked across to where he was indicating before passing it to Kelly. Lexi had the final look.

"_The map was accurate, there's little to no cover between here and there."_ Kelly said.

Torban nodded "_We can't get close enough to see exactly who it is or what they are doing without coming under sniper fire. Whoever they are they don't want company."_

"_That's why we are here."_ Lexi said.

"_Karrigan"_ Kelly said "_You need to find yourself a comfy spot to snipe and observe from. Lexi and I will head down to the plain and then make our way across."_

"_That could be tricky Kelly."_ Lexi said as she continued to scan their route "_The cloak isn't going to last long enough for us to both get all the to their outpost. I think this might have to be a solo run."_

"_No way."_ said Kelly firmly "_There is no way that is happening. We don't know what we are walking into. I am not letting you go out there alone."_

"_You're not letting me?_" Lexi raised an eyebrow at Kelly "_Really?"_

"_Yes really. Now give me that scope."_ Kelly snatched back the scope, her eyes roamed across the plain until she saw something that she that she had noticed on the map in the briefing room "_Ah ha..there perfect. Look."_

Lexi took the scope and trained it on the point that Kelly had found "_Is that a trench?"_

"_Yes. It's about two thirds of the way. It will be a push time wise but we should be able to make it, recharge your cloak and then go again. And this is not a discussion." _she said.

Lexi opened her mouth and started to object "_But…"_

"_I said this is not a discussion. That is what we are doing..Shepard put me in charge and you are not going in alone."_

"_Fine." _

Karrigan looked from one to the other of them then interjected "_Right so now that's decided._" she took her scope back off Lexi "_There was an overhang on the map about fifty meters from here if I calculated right."_

Torban who was a little bemused by the interactions of the humans nodded "_Yes we have an observation point set there, it has the best vantage point over the plain."_

"_That's where I'm going then."_ Karrigan said.

Torban nodded in approval and waved one of the krogan's over. "_He will show you the way."_ without waiting, for confirmation from Kelly, Karrigan left with the Krogan. Torban turned back to Kelly and Lexi "_It will take maybe ten minutes for her to reach the observation point. I will have one of my scouts lead you down to the plain. The route down from here is treacherous if you don't know the path, he can lead you down out of sight. He will wait at the bottom for your return."_ He signaled the krogan over that Kelly had pushed, he did not look happy at having been picked to escort them.

"_Thank you."_ Kelly said to Torban "_Your help is appreciated."_

"_That is all the help we will give you. We are holding off the Reapers and keeping a supply route open to the front lines. I have no one to spare for this. If you get in trouble you are on your own."_ He turned and walked away leaving Lexi and Kelly with the scout .

"_Well, " _said Lexi sarcastically to Kelly "_You seem to be going around making friends with everyone. Turians. Krogans."_ she grinned "_Must be your winning personality."_

"_Must be."_ replied Kelly with a wry smile "_Now we'd best be off after that scout, he ain't waiting."_

* * *

The route down to the plain was exactly as Torban had described it: treacherous and their scout was not hanging around. The path was all sharp rocks and loose stone as it wound it's way down the side of the mountain and in parts, where it was exposed, the side dropped away to nothing. The krogan scout navigated it with ease but for both Kelly and Lexi, who weren't familiar with the terrain, it was hard going. Anyone within earshot would have heard a multitude of curses and mumblings from both of the marines as they slipped and bumped their way down the path.

"_Good thing we have armour on."_ Kelly grumbled "_Hate to think how many bruises I'd have otherwise."_ as she spoke her footing went and Lexi who had turned at the noise cursed as she saw Kelly hurtling down towards her.

"_Oh fuck!" _exclaimed Lexi as she braced herself knowing that she had nowhere to go to get out of the way and that one way or the other she was going to stop Kelly's fall. Kelly hit her hard, whipping her legs out from beneath her. As Lexi fell she threw a hand out to grab Kelly, Kelly's flailing hand grab hers tight as she started to go past her. Lexi groaned as her shoulder jerked at the force but she didn't let go even when she hit the path hard. She landed on her left arm and grunted at the impact. As the momentum of Kelly started to pull her down she used her free left hand to scrabble about and find something to hold on to and stop them.

The rock and gravel started to shred her armoured glove but she quickly found a solid piece of rock she could grip and, with her teeth grinding together and her eyes shut, she held on tight as her shoulder once more felt like it was being ripped from it's socket as she bought them both to a shuddering halt. Aware that the noise of their fall had subsided and that she was no longer moving Lexi opened her eyes and looked at Kelly who had a death tight grip on her hand and a slight hint of panic in her eyes "_Don't let go."_ Kelly gasped breathlessly.

Lexi realised that Kelly was dangling off the side of the mountain face and although the drop wasn't far the jagged rock formations below made it a deadly one. Lexi gulped "_Wasn't intending to,"_ she said her voice strained from the effort of holding onto Kelly. She tried to ease the tension as she could see how close to panic Kelly was. "_I know how much you like holding my hand..." _

"_Not helping..." _Kelly said through gritted teeth as she tried to find purchase with her feet against the face of the mountain.

"_No?" _Lexi said raggedly a strained grin on her face "_cause it kinda feels like I am helping right now."_

Kelly didn't answer as her feet scrambled unsuccessfully to find a foothold "_Trickster curse it…"_ she muttered only to be interrupted by a large shadow looming over her.

"_Puny humans."_ The Krogan said as he bent down and grabbed Kelly's collar. With ease he lifted her bodily up and deposited her back on the path next to Lexi, who had released her hold on Kelly's hand as soon as she was safely in the Krogans hands. Lexi sighed softly as her breathing calmed.

Kelly turned to thank the Krogan but he had already gone so she turned back to Lexi "_Lexi…"_

"_What?"_ Lexi asked as she pulled herself to her feet.

"_Thank you."_ Kelly said as she stood beside her and looked down at where she had been hanging.

Lexi grinned "_Anytime. You just let me know when you wanna throw yourself off the side of a mountain and I'll be there to hold your hand."_

Kelly shook her head "_You…"_ then laughed "_Good to know." _

"_Guess we'd better catch up with our Krogan friend."_ Lexi said.

"_Yeah I'll go first this time."_

"_Good plan. You can hit him if you fall this time."_

Kelly nodded and started to move on down with Lexi close behind her. Distracted Lexi didn't notice that her omnitool was flickering intermittently.


	24. Going Solo

When Lexi finally made it to the bottom the Krogan was pointing Kelly in the direction of the trench. "_We good to go?"_ asked Lexi as she activated her omnitool. She frowned as it flickered a couple of times before bursting into life. Kelly who was checking the route on her omnitool missed the flickering and nodded in response as the Krogan settled down out of the way.

"_I will wait here. If you are not back soon I will leave." _The Krogan rumbled at them.

"_Good to know."_ Lexi replied sarcastically.

Kelly turned to Lexi and accessed her omnitool. "_Kelly what are you doing?" _Lexi asked.

"_Just making a slight modification to your cloaking device."_ Kelly replied "_There now we don't need to stay in contact for it to cover us both. My omnitool will now piggy back off yours and cloak me separately as long as I stay within a certain distance of you."_

"_Clever. But if you aren't in contact with me how will you know where I am? Seeing as I'm cloaked…"_

Kelly sighed "_I'm not silly. I've set up a tracking program on my omnitool that links to yours. Should be easy enough to keep up with you." _

Impressed Lexi nodded "_Nice. You really aren't silly." _her omnitool flickered again and this time Kelly saw it.

"_What was…" _Kelly started to ask.

"_Well let's go then." _Lexi said cutting Kelly off, she activated her cloak and then started to move chuckling at Kelly's curse. "_What's up darlin'?"_ she whispered in Kelly's ear "_Thought you said you could keep up."_

Kelly grinned as her omnitool pinpointed Lexi "_Oh don't you worry I can."_

They moved across the plain fast, knowing that they had no time to waste due to the limited life span of the cloak. On a couple of occasions Lexi's omnitool flickered and on the second occasion a spark flew off it and the cloak dropped on both of them for a fraction of a second.

"_What the fuck was that?"_ Kelly asked as they hunkered down in the trench.

"_What was what?" _Lexi asked.

"_Oh you know…we lost the cloak out there for a moment."_

"_I'm not sure."_ Lexi admitted reluctantly.

Kelly looked at her "_Really?"_

"_Well…"_

"_Lexi." _Kelly snapped "_Spit it out."_

"_Well when I stopped your fall I kinda hit the mountain pretty hard. I think I might have landed on my omnitool."_

"_You think you might have landed on your omnitool."_ Kelly growled "_And you didn't think to tell me?"_

Lexi shifted uncomfortably "_It worked didn't it?" a_s she spoke her omnitool flickered and sparked again "_And anyway, " _she said defensively "_we have a mission to carry out. What choice did we have?"_

Kelly glared "_We might have had options if you had told me earlier. Let me look." _she roughly grabbed Lexi's arm and began working on the omnitool "_Damn it Lexi this is pretty much fried. No way it's got enough power left to get us both into the outpost, not without a really long recharge and we haven't got time for that."_ she chuntered.

"_Couldn't we transfer the cloak to your omnitool."_

"_No."_ Kelly shook her head "_There's not enough room with all the turret and drone mods I have on it. Not without losing them and we are not doing that."_

"_Only one thing for it then."_ said Lexi with a wicked grin.

"_Oh no!"_ said Kelly "_I know exactly what you are thinking and there is no way. It's too dangerous."_

"_Kels it'll be fine. You were the one who said it didn't have enough power for both of us. So I assume it will have enough for one."_

Kelly nodded reluctantly "_It should have yes but there's no guarantee it will last."_

Lexi looked across to the outpost they were heading to "_We don't have a choice. Shepard needs that information."_

"_I know." _Kelly said frustrated at the situation "_I know."_

Karrigan's voice came over the comms "_Hey guys what's going on. We haven't got all day you know."_

"_We know."_ snapped Kelly "_Slight change of plans. Lexi is going in alone."_

"_Alone? Lexi? Is that a good idea?"_

"_I can hear you ya know."_ Lexi grumbled back at Karrigan.

Kelly placed her hand on Lexi's shoulder to silence her "_We haven't got an option Karrigan." _Lexi scowled at the implication that Kelly thought it was a bad idea too "_Just keep your eyes open and let us know if there's any movement."_

Karrigan ground her teeth as Kelly cut off her communications "_Fine. I'll just sit here and wait then." _she snarled.

"_Thanks for the vote of confidence."_ Lexi said ironically to Kelly.

"_What? This is not a good idea but like you said we have no option. Now go and be careful."_

Lexi nodded "_You know me. I'm always careful."_ She switched the still flickering omnitool back to single cloak mode "_Back soon."_ she said as the cloak settled over her and she went leaving Kelly alone in the trench.

"_I do know you."_ mumbled Kelly to herself as Lexi left her "_That's why I'm worried."_

* * *

Lexi moved silently covering the distance between the trench and the outpost swiftly. The outpost was surrounded by a low wall, she ducked behind the fortifications and paused to catch her breath. Still cloaked she peered over the wall and took a good look around. What she saw confirmed Shepard's fears. They weren't merchs this was Cerberus and they were well settled in and obviously up to something. The defences were well constructed, dug deep into the earth and she could clearly see guards patrolling the area. Added to that in a shelter off to one side was a group of five troopers playing cards.

Dropping back into cover Lexi sent a two word message, via her omnitool, to the others '_Cerberus confirmed'. _A voice soft and firm belonging to Kelly resonated in her earpiece "_Good job Lexi. Now get back and we can reassess the situation. Do not go in."_

Lexi grinned at Kelly's tone and sent another communication '_Cloak holding. Going in.'_ Her grin broadened at the cascade of abuse that Kelly subsequently threw at her.

Lexi started to move around the outside of the compound seeking a way in, wanting to avoid the area that all the guards were in. She kept low and quiet moving in the shadows of the fortifications, not wanting to leave anything to chance. Once far enough away from the card playing troops she peered over the wall only to find herself face to face with a nemesis. Lexi instinctively held her breath sure that the nemesis will have felt it already. She stared to move slowly back down and out of sight when her cloak flickered momentarily, the nemesis blinked in surprise at the flashing vision of a person in front of her and Lexi used her moment of hesitation to act.

Lexi drew her knife and did an over cover grab. The nemesis still off guard hit the ground with a forceful thud, it knocked the wind out of her and silenced any noise she may have made. Before she had a chance to recover Lexi tore her throat out with her combat knife, her other hand firmly fixed over her mouth, her knee bearing her full weight down on the chest of the nemesis to pin her in position and minimise the thrashing of the dying woman.

"_Oh...Fuck, "_ said Karrigan as she witnessed the nemesis flying over the fortifications "_Lexi you ok?"_

"_What?"_ Kelly asked "_What the fuck is going on?"_

As Lexi's cloak flickered and died so did the nemesis. Chuntering under her breath Lexi pulled the body up tight to the wall and tucked her and it into the shadows praying that had all gone unnoticed as she tried desperately to get her cloak up and running again.

"_Lexi?"_ Two voices came over the comms simultaneously.

Struggling with her omnitool Lexi conceded defeat, the power supply on it so low that all she can run now is her comms. The cloak and her shields both having failed. "_I'm good." _she whispered softly.

"_I can see you."_ Karrigan said "_I shouldn't be able to."_

"_No really?" _Lexi growled back sarcastically "_Fancy that."_

"_Will someone just tell me what the fuck is going on."_ Kelly said angrily her temper frayed.

Karrigan gave her a brief rundown of events as Lexi pillaged the nemesis liberating her ammo clips and helping herself to her gun "_Nice." _ She muttered as she handled the gun. It was a Raptor sniper rifle, highly modified. From her quick but well trained examination it had an extended barrel, an increased thermal clip capacity and from the weight of it ultra light materials. "_Very nice." _she said as she looked down the scope her hands making a quick few adjustments to make it suit her. "_That's a keeper."_ As she worked she could hear Kelly and Karrigan discussing exactly how they were going to get to her.

Lexi frowned and threw caution to the wind. She knew that the others would be livid with her but they were only going to be able to get to her if Lexi whittled down the numbers of the troops in the outpost, she didn't have an option. Lexi made her move and as soon as she did she heard Karrigan's exasperated voice over the comms "_What the hell are you doing now?"_ she asked as she watched Lexi from above. "_Oh crap she's going into the compound!"_ Karrigan hissed across the comms.


	25. Dancing With A Phantom

"_She's what?"_ exclaimed Kelly as she remained in the trench "_Lexi...don't even think about it. Shit Karrigan if her omnitool is out she won't have shields. You'd better have her covered."_ she snapped at Karrigan.

"_I can't see her at all now she has gone in, there are areas I have a visual of but not where she has just entered."_ As she watched she caught a glimpse of a cerberus guard on the far side of the compound to where Lexi had entered, she watched him drop to the floor with what looked like a single precision shot to his head "_But I think she is trying to clear out the compound so we can get to her."_

"_She's trying to do that alone? Is she insane?"_ asked Kelly.

"_Well that's what it looks like she just took down a trooper on the far side of the compound with what must have been a sniper rifle. Does she even have a sniper rifle?" _

"_No she doesn't. Now focus... I've got a really bad feeling about this."_ As they spoke an explosion went off deep in the heart of the compound. Loud enough that neither Kelly nor Karrigan required the comms to hear it. "_What the? Lexi!" _Kelly shouted down the comms., her concern and anger barely held in check she lurched to her feet only for a nemesis in the compound to take aim. Kelly threw herself to one side as she saw the telltale bead on her, the bullet skimmed her armour "_Fuck Karrigan I'm pinned down here by a nemesis. Can you take her out so I have a clear run in?"_

"_I'm there already."_ Karrigan said as she unleashed a round onto the unsuspecting nemesis "_She's down let me sweep for more before you move."_

"_Fine. but make it quick and when you finish cover Lexi."_ ordered Kelly.

"_I can't even see her."_ Karrigan replied curtly "_Oh and when I get my hands on her I'm gonna kill her."_

"_Get in line."_ Kelly snapped back viciously "_Get in line." _

* * *

Lexi dived into cover as the grenade ripped into the poker playing troops. Only three were still there, the other two presumably off patrolling the area but it was such an easy target that Lexi had gone for it trusting in her skills to deal with any remaining troops. She had shipped the sniper rifle after taking down that trooper and switched to her shotgun. Her comms rattled constantly with the chatter from Kelly and Karrigan but right now she had more pressing things to deal with. Her shotgun in hand she started to hunt the other troopers.

Even without her cloak Lexi was hard to find, she moved with and in the shadows keeping low, her movements controlled and near on silent. Right now though she had to be especially careful as her omnitool failing had resulted in the loss of her shields. Her armour would afford her some protection but not much against the high tech weaponry that Cerberus used.

A slight noise to her right stopped her in her tracks, she turned slowly to catch a glimpse of one of the troopers walking towards her his eyes alert but nervous. As he got closer Lexi sprang into life jumping out in front of him and taking him down with two quick taps to the trigger of her shotgun. He didn't stand a chance and was dead before he hit the ground. She rolled to the side and back into the shadows sure she had heard more footsteps and aware that her gunfire would have revealed her position.

She started to move around the edge of the compound, keeping close to the fortifications to afford herself some cover, when she again heard something out of place. She frowned stopping once more, as she stood there she heard a whoosh, she ducked down low and to the side only to hear the clang of metal against the fortifications where she had just been stood, "_Fuck that's a sword. Phantom!"._

* * *

"_Did she just say Phantom?"_ asked Kelly after hearing Lexi's exclamation.

"_Yes."_ Karrigan replied "_And no I still can't see her. She's in the shadows the Phantom must be cloaked."_

"_Karrigan I'm gonna have to risk it, I've got to get to that outpost. Cover me." _Kelly said as she crawled out of the trench, she activated her drone and sent it ahead and to the side of her as a distraction.

"_Are you mad?"_ Karrigan asked as she gave Kelly supporting fire.

"_Mad at Lexi? Yes I damn well am."_ Kelly growled as she crawled across the terrain moving as fast as she dared. Her drone and Karrigan keeping fire off her.

"_Ummm…"_

"_No ummms. I so don't need umms right now." _

"_Ummm...I think we may have more company on the way."_

"_You have got to be kidding me."_

"_No there's dust clouds in the distance. It looks to be a long way off, I guess we are lucky the sky is so clear and they are visible."_

"_Yeah lucky that's exactly what we are right now."_ Kelly said sarcastically.

Karrigan couldn't help but grin at Kelly's tone.

"_How long?" _asked Kelly.

"_How long…." _As Karrigan tried to estimate the distance she was thankful that the terrain was rough, and that there were no roads, that should give them some time but she couldn't be sure. "_Thirty minutes ...Maybe less."_

"_Great just great."_ Kelly chuntered as she continued on her way.

* * *

Another whoosh resounded as the blade split the air as it swooped back towards Lexi, cursing she rolled to the side but the Phantom anticipated her movement and the sword sliced easily and cleanly through the armour on Lexi's lower right arm. "_Fuck." _she hissed through gritted teeth "_Now that's not funny." _She let go of her shotgun and it clattered to the floor, in the same movement she grabbed her SMG and strafed across the area that the blow had come from As the bullets hit her cloaked assailant Lexi concentrated her fire on the Phantom until her cloak failed "_Got ya!"_ she said triumphantly.

The Phantom spun and danced her way out of the firing line as her cloak dropped her sword gleaming in the sunlight as she twirled it around. Lexi's movements were slower than normal, the injury to her arm impeding her, she maintained her fire letting off short bursts of strafing fire at the Phantom as she dodged and weaved out of the way of that sword knowing that distance was her ally in this fight. The sword caught her a couple more times but only glancing blows that her armour deflected easily. Lexi backed away wanting to put more distance between them, her repeated firing drops the Phantoms shields, her persistence rewarded with a shriek of pain as several of the bullets penetrated the left leg of the Phantom.

In an unexpected move the Phantom made a suicide run directly at Lexi "_What the fuck?" _Lexi cried out as she fired directly at the sword wielding woman. The Phantom finally faltered, falling forward but not before making a last desperate lunge at Lexi. Lexi tried to move but had no where to go and the Phantoms sword buried deep into her right shoulder, the weight of the Phantom falling on it forcing it all the way through Lexi's armour and flesh and out the other side, completely skewering Lexi's shoulder.

Lexi screamed then dropped to her knees her breathing hard, fast, frantic as she tried to stay upright. Her right arm hanging useless by her side and the SMG on the floor "_Ohfuck." _

* * *

On hearing her scream Kelly threw caution to the wind and got to her feet as she sprinted the rest of the way into the compound. "_Karrigan tell me you've got her."_

"_Yes."_ Karrigan said her tone clipped, serious "_She's in trouble."_

"_No shit."_ Kelly said her voice strained from the effort of running in full armour. Her drone hovered beside her and took out a trooper that was creeping up on Kelly, Kelly didn't even notice. "_Sitrep."_ she snapped at Karrigan.

"_She's in the open, the Phantom is down but…."_ Karrigan trailed off as she saw the sword through her scope.

"_But?"_

"_Ahhh fuck. She's got a sword skewering her right shoulder." _Karrigan grimaced at the thought.

"_You have got to be kidding me."_ Kelly said as she threw herself over the fortifications and into the compound relieved to see that Karrigan had done a good job of clearing the area, a dead nemesis and two troopers were strewn across the ground. "_I'll be there soon."_


	26. Fuss and Mess

Lexi's vision was blurred as blood streamed out of her wound, she left the sword in place all too aware that moving it would probably result in her bleeding out before the others got to her. She remained kneeling unsure how to move without causing more damage, her breathing now fast and shallow, sweat pouring off her as she tried to remain conscious.

Her chin dropped to her chest as she started to lose her battle, she jerked it upright again as she heard footsteps "_Kels?"_ she murmured softly. As her eyes focused she found herself looking across at one of the guards who had been playing poker earlier. He strutted towards her an evil grin on his face as he kicked her SMG out of reach.

She attempted to reach for her pistol but the pain from the sword as she tried to move threatened to make her black out and she stopped short. Losing consciousness now would be a death sentence, even half delirious, Lexi knew that she had a chance if she was still awake. As the trooper approached her he grabbed the hilt of the sword and said one word as he started to slowly, deliberately twist it "_Pathetic." _

Lexi tried not to react but the pain was too much and she couldn't help but scream again. The trooper started to laugh and released his hold. He drew his pistol and placed the muzzle against Lexi's forehead, "_You are gonna pay for what you've done bitch."_ he snarled.

* * *

As Lexi screamed again Karrigan swung her sniper rifle back to her "_Shit. She's got company."_

"_Fuck." _replied Kelly in frustration "_You got a shot? cause if she's got company I don't know if I'll be there quick enough. She's on the far side of the compound." _

Before Kelly had asked Karrigan had her sights set on the trooper, by now his gun was pressed against Lexi's head. Karrigan wasted no time squeezing the trigger. He fell backwards as the shot hit him square between the eyes punching through his brain and causing the back of his brain to explode.

"_He's down but Lexi looks to be in a bad way." _Karrigan said as she watched Lexi collapse back onto her legs the low barricade behind her the only thing stopping her from falling flat. "_Kelly?"_

"_I'm nearly there."_ Kelly replied breathlessly as she rounded the corner her eyes were drawn to the phantom and trooper before she spotted an unconscious Lexi "_Gods above Lexi!"_ she said as she knelt down beside her "_Hey! You listenin'? Yer gonna survive this, if for no other reason than so's I can kill ya myself!"_

As soon as Karrigan saw Kelly had reached Lexi she collapsed down her sniper rifle "_I'm on my way"_ she said as she ran out of the observation point and grabbed the nearest Krogan, leaving him in no doubt exactly what she would do to him if he didn't get her down to that outpost asap.

* * *

Kelly knew they were in trouble; the troops Karrigan had spotted were at the most twenty minutes away and Lexi was losing blood too fast. Torn between what to do first she made a snap decision. She pulled out a tube of medi-gel and plastered it around both the wound entrance and the sword sealing it as best as she could. She then did the same for the exit wound, it was crude but should stem the blood flow for now. Kelly then eased Lexi into a more comfortable position leaving her propped up against the fortifications but ensuring there was no pressure on the sword. All the time she worked she chuntered soft and low at Lexi, reprimanding her for her actions and landing them in this predicament.

She worked as fast as she could and when she finished she reluctantly left Lexi alone so she could set up some defenses against the incoming troops. Before she left she set Riley up to defend Lexi unsure if there were still troops in the area or not and, on the off chance of Lexi coming around, she placed her shotgun and SMG beside her left hand. "_Be right back kiddo, don't go anywhere."_

She moved outside of the fortifications and set up a wide semicircle of motion sensitive mines, in the area that the cerberus troops would approach from, before dropping a turret. Just as she finished she heard footsteps and heavy breathing behind her. Kelly's hand flew to her pistol, she drew it and span around in one flowing motion, barely managing to stop herself from firing as she recognised Karrigan "_What the fuck are you doing creeping up on me like that?" _ she cursed loudly.

Karrigan didn't reply instead she asked Kelly a question "_Why aren't you with Lexi?"_

"_I stabilised her but it's gonna take both of us to remove that sword and I needed to set up some kind of defence against those incoming troops." _she pointed towards the ever closing dust cloud "_Don't think it's gonna be long before we have company."_

Karrigan groaned as she looked at the dust cloud "_Joy...So are we set now?"_

Kelly nodded "_As set as we can be. Motion sensitive mines should hold them up and those and my turret will at least give us a warning of when they arrive."_

"_Good plan." _Karrigan said impressed at Kelly's thinking "_So Lexi then?"_

"_Yeah Lexi."_ Kelly scowled "_She really fucked up."_ she said as she led the way back to her at a run.

"_I know."_ Karrigan agreed before her breath caught at the sight of Lexi and the offending sword. She knelt down next to her "_Kelly we need to get this out of her to move her."_

"_You think I don't know that?"_ Kelly snapped.

Ignoring her tone Karrigan continued "_She's still unconscious which is a good thing right now. I need you to stabilise the sword whilst I quickly check the wound."_

Kelly nodded and took hold of the hilt holding it firmly in place. She grimaced at the low, soft moan that Lexi released as Kelly put pressure on the sword to steady it. "_Hold on there Lexi." _she whispered "_I've got you."_

Karrigan raised her eyebrow at the comment but said nothing a small smile on her face at Kelly's obvious concern. She assessed the injury and then quickly applied a thick layer of medi-gel and a bandage to Lexi's lower arm. "_Right well we've got to get that sword out of her. Kelly pull it out as smoothly as possible. Once you are clear I'll seal the wound."_

Kelly nodded again then grasped the sword by the blade as close to the wound as possible "_Ok...ready?"_ she didn't wait for an answer as she pulled the blade free in a quick, level seamless motion "_Ok...Go!"_ she said as blood started to pump out of Lexi.

Karrigan moved fast immediately applying a dermal medi-gel injector at the wound opening and then the exit sealing it instantly. The bleeding eased and then stopped "_Good job."_ she said to Kelly. "_That should last long enough for us to get back to the Normandy."_

"_Should?"_

Karrigan shrugged noncommittally. "_Yeah...should."_

"_Right...well step one done then."_ replied Kelly "_Now how the hell do we...shit Karrigan move!"_ Kelly lunged forward the blade of the sword still in her hand as she used it to slice through the gut of a trooper who had crept up on them. He crumbled and fell forward his hands frantically trying to hold his innards in "_Oh gods." _ moaned Kelly at the sight, she struck him with a swift mercy blow to his throat then flung the sword aside hissing in pain at the damage her attack had done to her palm.

"_Aw shit Kelly let me look." _ Karrigan took Kelly's hand in hers.

"_It's nothing."_

"_That's through to the bone. Perhaps next time you should use your pistol." _ Karrigan said as she applied medi-gel and a bandage to Kelly's hand.

"_It's just a scratch." _Kelly said again.

As she spoke Lexi muttered "_What's all the fuss and noise about?"_

Kelly scowled at her "_Really? Have you seen the mess you've landed us in?"_

Lexi tried to move but pain shot through her right arm "_That's so not good."_ she groaned.

Karrigan placed a restraining hand on Lexi's left shoulder "_Don't you dare move. Stay right here. You are no use to us like this." _she said harshly.

An explosion went off in the behind them and they could hear Kelly's turret firing off rockets. "_We have company."_ stated Kelly.

Karrigan stood up and headed past Kelly. As soon as she released Lexi's shoulder Lexi tried to push herself up again.

"_Don't you dare move!_" Kelly said her voice low and deadly "_That's just a field dressing and you ain't fit to fight. Here." _she pressed Lexi's SMG into her left hand "_if we get into trouble we will fall back here and we will need supporting fire."_ she raised an eyebrow "_Now are you gonna stay put or do I have to sedate you before I go?"_

Lexi gripped the SMG tightly "_Fine." _she said angrily knowing that Kelly would indeed follow through on her threat to sedate her. Kelly just looked at her "_I said fine. I'll stay put."_

With a nod Kelly left Lexi alone battling to stay conscious and fighting her guilt over their current situation.


	27. Bada Bing, Bada Boom

When Kelly and Karrigan got to their defensive position the turret that Kelly placed had sustained enough damage that it self-detonated. The resulting explosion took out two troopers who had been trying to sneak past it. "_Impressive."_ Karrigan whistled as she checked her omnitool "_I count thirteen remaining." _

"_Only thirteen?" _replied Kelly as she peered over the fortification they were tucked behind. As she looked over she let off four volleys of fire, each volley accompanied by a yell from the trooper it took down "_Too easy!"_

Karrigan grinned and lobbed a grenade into the mix, the detonation giving them an opportunity to reposition. Kelly sent out her drone, Riley, and set up another turret to protect their flank.

"_Gods I love my job."_ shouted Karrigan gleefully as she followed Kelly into the fight.

Kelly cut a path of destruction through the troopers. She moved constantly never giving them a clean target to aim at as she switched to her Paladin pistol and took the troopers out one at a time. Headshot, chest then kneecap. Groin then head. She was relentless, ruthless and Karrigan was impressed.

When Kelly came face to face with a guardian she directed Riley behind him and grinned wickedly "_Hullo there!"_ she said as Riley zapped him, he turned distracted by the drone and Kelly fired two shots. "_Too easy."_ she said as she place the first shot in his butt and the second one in his head "_Bada bing, bada boom." _she chuckled.

"_Watch out Engineer...turret!" _exclaimed Karrigan as she herself took down two troopers.

Kelly turned and fired an accurate shot into the turrets power supply setting of a fireball that engulfed the Engineer "_Big bada-boom!" _she said happily.

Two more guardians appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Kelly flung a turret underneath their shields and between their legs. "_Hey Karrigan! Mail slots!"_ Distracted by the turret the two guardians made for easy prey, each one perfectly mail slotted. The first by Kelly and the second, a fraction later, by Karrigan. They couldn't help grinning at each other only for Karrigan to notice a distortion behind Kelly.

"_Kelly…. Phantom incoming to your right!" _

Kelly ducked and rolled back and to the left "_Take the shot Karrigan."_ she cried out as the turret switched targets and lit up the Phantom "_Oh shit…"_ she unloaded the clip on her pistol overheating it in the process.

Karrigan cursed as she opened fire, her assault rifle letting off short, accurate bursts of fire into the Phantoms midriff. After firing a full clip into her the Phantom started to fall swinging her blade in Kelly's direction "_Kelly move!"_

Kelly dropped flat to the floor and drew her combat knife with her patched up right hand, as she stopped the sword with her left one. She ignored the searing pain across her palm, as she bit down hard on her lip to stop herself crying out at the pain. Using all her strength she swung her right hand hard into the the Phantoms side, she gripped the sword tight in her left hand and rolled the Phantom onto her back. Kelly pulled her knife clear and then slashed it across the Phantoms neck, splattering herself in blood in the process "_Oh…"_ Kelly said as she let go of the sword and got shakily to her feet, her combat knife still in hand. Seeing Karrigan to her left she turns on a sixpence as she hears footsteps behind her and hurls her knife deep into the eye of an oncoming Engineer.

He dropped to the floor screaming, a headshot from Karrigan silencing him "_Nice. Very nice." _said Karrigan as she surveyed Kelly's handiwork, she pulled Kelly's knife free from the Engineer and wiped it clean on his shirt before returning it to a very shaky Kelly. "_You ok?" _

"_Yeah."_ replied Kelly "_Is that all of them?" s_he asked as she sunk to the floor the adrenaline rush fading.

Karrigan checked her omnitool before answering "_Yeah that's all of them. Now let me see your hand."_

"_What?" _asked Kelly. She looked shocked when she saw the deep cut on her second hand "_Oh whoa...what the hell? Did I just go all blood lust battle rage?" _

"_Yeah."_ Karrigan smiled as she applied medi-gel and a bandage to Kelly's left hand "_You went all Krogan on us."_

Kelly groaned as Karrigan finished "_Got a matched pair, don't I?"_ she said as she looked at her bandaged hands.

"_Yes you have. Now wait here, I'll go get Lexi and call for extraction."_

Kelly nodded and watched Karrigan walk away chatting to EDI as she went to arrange their medevac "_Well that didn't quite go to plan." _Kelly muttered to herself "_Damn it Lexi what were you thinking?"_

* * *

Once the Normandy crew had been alerted by Karrigan and the area had been confirmed as clear of Cerberus troops Cortez was sent down to the surface. Karrigan after a brief discussion with the Doctor had administered a sedative to Lexi before moving her to the LZ with Kelly. with ten minutes to spare before their ride would turn up Karrigan returned to the compound and retrieved all the intel she could find. When she was sure she had secured all there was to find she headed back to the LZ, making sure to pick up Lexi's discarded weapons on the way.

She sat down next to Kelly and had a quick drink of water before passing it to Kelly "_Not too much I think Chakwas may want to operate on those hands."_

"_Surgery?" _Kelly scoffed "_I think not. A few stitches and a fresh bandage and I'm good to go. Now her…"_ she trailed off as she looked at a pale, sedated and heavily sweating Lexi.

"_Yeah she definitely needs surgery."_ said Karrigan "_What was she thinking?" _she muttered unaware that Kelly could still hear her.

Frowning Kelly said nothing distracted by the sound of the Kodiak "_Hey shuttles here. That's our ride home."_

They both watched as Cortex glided the Kodiak smoothly down into the LZ "_Time to go." _his voice came over their comms.

"_You don't need to tell us." _replied Kelly.

* * *

When they reached the Normandy Karrigan waved away the medics and Chakwas pointing them towards Lexi and Kelly. When one of the medics queried all the blood over her Karrigan shook her head "_It's not mine." _ She sighed in frustration as she watched Kelly refuse any medical help until they had seen to Lexi "_Kelly your hands…"_

"_I'm fine." _Kelly answered abruptly "_She needs more help than I do." _They were stood outside medbay and it didn't go unnoticed by Karrigan that Kelly's eyes never left Lexi.

"_God you are stubborn."_ Karrigan glared "_Lexi is being looked after but those hands need seeing to as well." _ When Kelly ignored her Karrigan grabbed her wrists and forced her to look down at her hands "_Look at them!"._

Kelly looked down at them surprised at Karrigan's insistence until she saw the state of her bandages, both were dirty and blood was beginning to seep through them. Kelly pulled her hands free "_They'll be fine until the Doc is done with Lexi. I'll get treatment when she is stable."_

"_Jeez Kelly she is stable and in good hands the Doc has it under control." _when Kelly still didn't move Karrigan changed tact "_At least let me clean your hands up and rebandage them."_

"_Fine."_ said Kelly agitatedly "_If that will stop you nagging fine."_

They sat down at the mess table and Karrigan started to gently peel off the bandages, before cleaning out the wounds, applying fresh medi-gel and rebandaging them. Kelly was fidgety and distracted as Karrigan worked "_Kelly why are you so agitated?"_

"_I can't believe she did that. It was really stupid of her. She could have gotten herself killed." _Kelly replied tersely.

"_I agree completely. She could have got us all killed but it's over and done with and now we are all safely back on the Normandy."_ Karrigan replied as she finished with Kelly's hands.

Kelly's shoulders slumped "_Yeah I know. But what was she thinking? running off into the compound like that. She scared the living shit outta me."_

"_I see that." _Karrigan said under her breath as she watched Kelly go and stand back by the medbay window. Karrigan went and stood by her resting her hand on her shoulder "_There's nothing to see the Doc is carrying out surgery on her. C'mon let' go and get cleaned up. Hopefully by the time we are finished there will be some more news."_

"_Yeah. Ok."_ Kelly said as Karrigan turned her away from medbay and led her to the cargo hold to deposit their armour and weapons.


	28. Apologies

Lexi came round from her surgery with her heart racing as the image of the trooper with his gun against her head flitted through her subconscious. The first thing she saw when she opened her eyes was Kelly sat, asleep, at the the bottom of her bed. Her panic faded "_Kels."_ she said softly in relief.

Kelly stirred at her voice "_Hey Kels." _she said a little louder her voice croaky and her throat dry. She tried to push herself up, biting her lip hard as pain shot through her right shoulder and a wave of nausea washed over her "_Oh not good…."_ she murmured unaware that Kelly was now watching her.

"_How ya feeling kiddo?" _Kelly asked a lot more gently than she was feeling.

Lexi looked up at her "_Umm...fine but don't think I'll try moving again in a hurry."_

"_Probably best. You want a cup of tea?"_

As Kelly stood up Lexi noticed her bandaged hands and frowned "_You sure that's a good idea?"_ she said indicating, with a nod, Kelly's hands, "_What did you do to them?"_

Kelly looked down at them "_The right one was from gutting a cerberus trooper when I pulled the sword out of you. The left I got from stopping a Phantoms blade."_

"_Oh…"_ said Lexi quietly as a flush of guilt spread across her face "_Sorry 'bout that."_

"_Sorry? Yeah I should hope so. You seriously fucked up Lexi."_ before she could continue berating a bemused looking Lexi Karrigan joined them.

"_Awake then Lexi." _Karrigan said.

Lexi nodded tersely, already on edge after Kelly's attack "_Yeah. Great observations skills there."_

Karrigan set down a tray of drinks and sat on the next bed as Kelly and Lexi glared at each other. Karrigan tried to ease the obvious tension "_You missed Kelly going all Krogan bloodlust on us.." _she said with a grin "_Oh and you owe us ….we so saved your ass." _she said pointedly.

"_Kelly went Krogan bloodlust? Damn wish I'd seen that."_

"_Yeah apparently when I get real pissed I get dangerous." _Kelly said in an ominous voice.

"_I can see that." _Lexi said softly before saying louder "_It didn't go quite to plan down there and you two...well thanks."_

"_Didn't go quite to plan? You mean you even had a plan? Tell me please what the bloody hell was this plan? To die perhaps?" _Kelly growled.

"_Ok…" _said Lexi hesitantly "_So have I done something to piss you off?"_

"_Really?_" Kelly grumbled as she rolled her eyes.

"_What?"_

"_That was a really dumb question is what."_ said Kelly scathingly as Karrigan looked on unsure how to interject into this particular discussion. She decided that silence was the best course.

Lexi glared "_You got something to say darlin'? Just spit it out."_

Karrigan groaned inwardly at where this conversation was going.

"_I've got lots to say sweetheart." _Kelly spat back "_Starting with what the fuck were you thinking?"_

"_Thinking? Oh just that we had a mission to do…"_

Kelly cut her off abruptly "_Yes WE had a mission to do. Going into that compound without your cloak and with no shields was a serious miscalculation." _

"_It would have been fine if my cloak hadn't failed."_ Lexi said in a futile attempt to defend her actions "_And whose fault was that…" _she trailed off as she realised what she had said and when she saw the thunderous look on Kelly's face. "_I'm sorry I…."_

"_Don't."_ Kelly silenced her with the venom in that one word "_Just don't."_ Kelly turned away fuming silently at the implication of Lexi's unfinished comment and shamed at the small slither of truth behind it

"_Kels I…"_ Lexi stuttered unsure what to say as she watched Kelly walk away from her and out of the medbay "_Kels please I didn't mean anything…" _she stopped knowing that Kelly was out of earshot. Hot tears stung her eyes as she pushed her head back into the pillow "_Great job Lexi...great job." _she grumbled softly to herself forgetting that Karrigan was still there.

"_Lexi." _Karrigan said sternly to catch her attention. Lexi looked up blinking rapidly to hide her tears as she remembered Karrigan's presence "_You over stepped the mark there."_

"_I know." _ a subdued Lexi replied.

"_You scared her Lexi and that made her angry, really angry. Give her some time and she'll calm down."_

"_Time. Yeah. Right." _Lexi said unconvinced.

Karrigan shook her head in frustration "_You two are both as bad as each other from what I have seen."_ she sighed "_Now get some sleep and I'll go check on Kelly." _she eased herself off the biobed and started to walk away when Lexi spoke.

"_Engineering." _Lexi said quietly.

"_What?" _asked a puzzled looking Karrigan.

"_Engineering.. It's where she goes to think." _Lexi said in explanation.

"_Ok. Cool, I'll go look for her there then."_ Karrigan said with a smile "_Try and knock some sense into her,"_ she grinned as she looked at Lexi "_I think it's too late to try and knock any into you."_

Lexi watched, as Karrigan left, her eyes narrowing "_Well, well Karrigan seems you aren't just the hardcore bitch you like portray." _she muttered taken back by Karrigan's concern over both her and Kelly.

* * *

Karigan left Lexi and, taking her advice, headed to engineering. When she arrived there she was stopped by Chief Adams "_She's not here."_

"_Sorry. What?"_

"_I'm assuming you are looking for Kelly no other reason another marine would head this way. Well she was here but with both her hands bandaged I had no option but to send her away,"_ he paused before adding "_she was not happy when she left."_

"_I can imagine._" replied Karrigan "_Any idea where she went?"_

Adams had turned his attention back to the console he was working on, he glanced up at Karrigan "_No. Sorry."_

"_Thanks anyway."_ Karrigan said as she started to leave. Unsure where to go to find Kelly she decided to contact EDI to locate her. Just as she was about to contact EDI her omnitool beeped with a message, she frowned at the interruption then accessed her omnitool to find a request from Shepard for a verbal report on their last mission. "_Damn it." _she muttered as she changed direction and headed to the command centre to meet Shepard all thoughts of finding Kelly put to one side for now.

* * *

The next few days passed slowly. Shepard although happy that they had obtained intel from Cerberus recognised that both Lexi and Kelly required a few days of recovery time even if they wouldn't admit it.

Kelly and Karrigan had spent a lot of that time together both of them still frustrated at Lexi's recklessness on their last mission. Added to that the Doc had insisted that Lexi stay in medbay for four straight days as she recovered so that made it easy for both Kelly and Karrigan to keep their distance.

Karrigan's free time was spent in either the command centre, routing through the endless reports that were coming in from all parts of the galaxy, or in the gym honing her hand to hand combat skills. As soon as Kelly's hands were unbandaged she joined Karrigan in the gym, they refrained from sparring though, at least for now, happy to spend their time assessing and learning each others skills. The remainder of Kelly's free time was spent in Engineering where Adams had finally relented and allowed her to work down there, finding her a list of tasks to occupy her during their downtime.

During the bulk of this time Lexi was restricted to medbay. The Doc had carried out surgery on Lexi's return to the Normandy repairing the damage to both her shoulder and forearm . Although Chakwas hadn't said anything to Lexi she wasn't entirely happy with Lexi's shoulder. The damage was fixed but it appeared to have left it weakened, only a specialist would be able to fully repair it and right now they didn't have the time to get Lexi to one. The Doc had cautioned her against using her shotgun over the next few weeks as it needed time to strengthen and heal and the weight of a shotgun would, in Chakwas opinion, aggravate it. Lexi was left with a programme of strengthening exercises and physio for the next few weeks but was cleared for duty by the end of the week.

On her release from medbay the first thing that Lexi did was ignore the Docs advice and go to the shooting range to try and use her shotgun. She fired one shot before realising that the Doc was right, she could aim and fire once but the pain that burned through her shoulder meant that any further shots would be out of the question. She growled in frustration throwing her shotgun onto her bench before going to the observation deck and drowning her sorrows. As she sat there drinking Kelly walked in unobserved, grinding her teeth in annoyance at seeing Lexi drinking so heavily Kelly bit her tongue and left not trusting herself to keep civil.

After an evening of self pity Lexi picked herself up and threw herself into her recovery program working long and hard. Any spare time that she had she spent at the shooting range sharpening her smg and pistol marksmanship.

* * *

Exactly seven days after their Tuchanka mission the three marines found themselves altogether, for the first time, sat around the mess table. Karrigan groaned inwardly at the obvious rumbling of tension that was flowing between Lexi and Kelly. She decided that enough was enough and broke the silence "_Will the two of you just talk this through."_

Kelly glared at her "_There's nothing to talk through. She…" _she turned her glare to Lexi "_seems rather determined to throw her life away and scare the shit out of me in the process."_

Lexi frowned "_I wasn't trying to scare either of you. We had a mission, it got a bit complicated that's all."_

"_That's all?"_ Kelly sighed "_See Karrigan... she doesn't even get what the problem is."_

Karrigan went to reply but Lexi got there first snapping her reply "_No I don't. We're marines. We had a mission. We got the job done. What is your problem?"_

"_Right now you are my problem." _Kelly spat back at her "_We're a team, that means we are all one entity now. We gotta look after not only our own behinds but our squadmates too. I don't…"_ she stopped as she realised her error and started again "_We don't want to lose you cause you do something reckless again." _

Lexi frowned slightly biting her lip as she noticed Kellys correction "_I'm sorry perhaps I wasn't thinking like that. I just know we had a mission to do and you know what it's like in the field. Sometimes you get in too deep and too quick and things just spiral."_

"_That's one word for it."_ Kelly said under her breath, Kelly thought about saying more but it seemed that Lexi had acknowledged her mistake so instead of continuing the discussion she nodded in agreement "_Yeah I know. Just be more careful ok?"_

Lexi nodded "_Ok." _

"_Right. Finally."_ Karrigan said with a sigh of relief "_So you guys are good again. Now I don't know bout you two but I'm getting itchy feet just kicking around the Normandy right now. We are going back to Tuchanka briefly tomorrow and I may have found something for us to do…"_ she said with a grin.

Kelly and Lexi recognised Karrigan's tone and exchanged a worried look "_Oh yeah?" _said Kelly as she waited for Karrigan to elaborate.

"_Yeah."_ replied Karrigan with a wicked grin "_How do you fancy going up against a Thresher Maw…." _

Kelly gulped "_A Thresher Maw? Please...Trickster bless it, tell me you are joking."_

"_No not joking. I've always wanted to take one on and the reports show one causing a problem on a remote part of the planet. The Krogan's haven't got anyone to spare to deal with it so it seems like a good way to have some fun and get back in the field."_

"_You have a very strange idea of fun."_ said Lexi. Karrigan just laughed as Kelly shook her head.


	29. One Marine Down

When they parted company for the evening Lexi made her way down to the cargo bay to find Cortez. Upon finding him she spent a considerable amount of time going through his inventory of armour and weapons. By the time she had finished she had a new chest plate and arm guard to replace the ones that had got damaged by the Phantoms sword. She also had a pair of lightweight reinforced gloves that she placed on Kelly's workbench, to replace the set that had got sliced.

As Lexi passed her workbench she glanced at her wrecked armour shuddering at the memories as she did so. The swinging whoosh of the sword, the guard twisting the sword in her shoulder, the muzzle of his pistol pressing into her. She broke into a hot sweat as she unwittingly stepped back straight into Cortez, "_Lexi. Hey are you ok?"_

"_Yeah. I ummm…." _she stuttered hearing the lie as she spoke, it was clear from Cortez's face that he didn't believe her but he didn't push her any more just laid a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"_Talk to Chakwas" _when he saw her scowl he changed tact "_Or Kelly, or Karrigan even."_ he said with a smile, knowing that last one would never happen. "_They might be able to help."_

Lexi shook his hand off her shoulder "_I'm fine. Just tired. Speaking of which I should go and hit the rack."_ she turned and walked away muttering to herself as she did "_Not good, so not good."_ unaware that Cortez was still watching her.

When she finally reached the crew quarters Kelly and Karrigan were already asleep, she laid down on her bunk and waited for sleep to claim her. It didn't come easily.

* * *

The following morning found them all in the cargo bay getting suited up and ready to go down to the planet. "_So Shepard okayed this then?"_ Kelly asked Karrigan.

Karrigan grimaced and turned her back on Kelly before she answered "_Of course she did. It makes for good relations with the Krogan's, that's always a good thing."_

Kelly frowned as Karrigan turned away and answered and looked to Lexi who raised an eyebrow but said nothing as she rummaged through her workbench and then her locker.

"_Ok then,"_ said Kelly "_I guess we are good to go then. Though Lexi ...no running off alone this time."_

Lexi scowled as she looked up "_Really? You're still going on about that."_

"_Yep."_ Kelly replied smartly "_And I will keep going on about it until I think you've actually listened and taken it in."_

"_Sorry to be such a burden."_ Lexi hissed sarcastically.

"_You should be."_ Karrigan interjected before staring at what Lexi had in her hand "_What is that?"_

"_Really? You need to ask what an smg is?"_ Lexi replied tetchily, her lack of sleep and Karrigan's comment getting the better of her.

"_Oh lordy…"_ Kelly said as she witnessed the look that passed between Karrigan and Lexi.

"_Well from this angle it looks funny...kinda small, but hey I like big guns and big explosions._" she patted her sniper rifle as she taunted Lexi.

"_Yeah and don't we know it."_ Lexi grumbled back defensively "_But the Doc says no shotgun with my shoulder right now so a smg it is."_

"_Ha!" _laughed Karrigan an evil grin on her face "_you're using the old war injury excuse are you?"_

"_I am not using an excuse."_ Lexi snarled back.

Karrigan grinned wickedly as she passed Lexi "_Pathetic." _

Lexi stepped back like she'd been struck, a vision of the trooper and his gun as he spat out that same word flashing in front of her. She dropped her smg back down onto her workbench and yanked off her armour as Kelly looked at her in surprise "_Lexi are you…"_

Kelly didn't managed to finish as Lexi replied to Karrigan's comment "_Fuck you." _she growled.

Karrigan spun round at the words and the venom behind them "_What?"_

"_I said fuck you. Go on your own."_ she spat out as she shoved Kelly aside, as she tried to block her path, and stormed across to the lift.

"_Seriously what is wrong with you?"_ Karrigan shouted after the disappearing lift "_Fuck it I'm going anyway. You coming Kelly or are you staying?"_ she questioned as she stepped into the shuttle.

Kelly shook her head in disbelief at what had just gone down, then grabbed the gloves off her workbench and her Valkyrie assault rifle "_Yeah I'm coming. You can't go alone... of course I'm sticking with you."_

As the shuttle left the Normandy they sat in silence, Kelly twisting the gloves in her hands before it occurred to her that she didn't know where they had come from. Karrigan suddenly spoke "_I was only joking."_

"_About what? Aren't we going after the maw now?"_ Kelly said in confusion.

"_No not the maw, Lexi her shoulder. I was only joking."_

"_She seemed okay until you called her pathetic. Dunno why that would get that reaction."_

"_Well whatever. She can sulk, I'm going after that maw."_ said Karrigan.

"_We're going after that maw."_ corrected Kelly as she settled back in her seat.

Karrigan grinned at her "_Yes we are."_

* * *

Lexi didn't make it halfway to the Observation Deck before she stopped in her tracks "_Fuck" _she cursed quietly as she stood there reflecting on her actions. "_Oh fuck."_ She said more forcibly sighing as she did so "_I can't just leave them like that." _

She spun around and made her way at double time back down to the cargo bay. As she exited the lift she begun to speak "_I'm sorry I…"_ she stopped as she realised that there was no one there. That Kelly and Karrigan and all their gear had gone, as had Cortez and the shuttle. Her expression darkened "_Well I guess that tells me where I stand."_

This time she didn't stop on her way to the Observation deck and a bottle of whiskey that was calling her.

* * *

When the shuttle touched down Kelly and Karrigan stood by the open door and looked out for a minute, catching their bearings and scanning the desolate land before them. Karrigan grabbed her gear and stepped out, she slapped Kelly on the back as she passed her "_Let's go bag us a thresher Maw." _she said with a grin.

Kelly nodded as she pulled her gloves on "_Right behind you."_ she paused before asking "_Hey did you get me these gloves?"_

Karrigan looked puzzled "_What gloves? And right now I think perhaps we should be concentrating on the maw don't you?"_

"_Must have been Lexi."_ Kelly said softly.

Karrigan didn't quite hear what Kelly had said "_What?" _she called back as she unshipped her assault rifle and scanned the area.

"_Oh nothing just said I was right behind you."_ Kelly pulled her assault rifle off her weapons rack and moved to stand beside Karrigan. Together they watched as Cortez expertly took off leaving them alone.

"_Right so where to start?" _Karrigan mused.

"_Seriously?"_ Kelly rolled her eyes "_I thought you had all the details from the command center." _Karrigan didn't say anything "_Fine, let me check." _Kelly accessed her omnitool and the map of the local terrain "_Look here. There's a derelict arena about a click and a half away. That seems like a good place to start."_

"_Ok. Arena it is. After you…" _Karrigan bowed and waved her arm in the direction of the arena.

Laughing at her cheek Kelly took point and led the way. When they reached the arena it was all too clear that it had been derelict for some time. Most of the pillars had fallen, toppled over decades ago going by the decay and plant growth that had taken over them "_I thought there wasn't much growing on Tuchanka." _Kelly said as she ran her hand across the moss on one of the pillars.

"_Apparently there's some life here." _Karrigan said as she looked at it "_Odd to see green in all this grey. Kinda hopeful."_ she muttered under her breath as they both looked around taking in the destruction of the arena. The seating or standing areas, it was hard to be sure what they were now, were ramshackled and broken. Parts were completely missing, or disintegrated leaving gaps and holes. Whilst others still went up to a dizzying height.

Karrigan whistled in appreciation as she took it all in "_Well I'm not intending to use my sniper rifle but if I do…"_ her eyes drifted up "_I'm gonna have a hell of a position to shoot from."_

"_You aren't going to use your sniper rifle?"_ Kelly said in surprise.

"_No I'm thinking close range combat for this outing."_

"_Shame we don't have Lexi then." _Kelly said without thinking, she continued hoping Karrigan would let her comment go "_So how do we get it's attention then? I don't see a doorbell." _she said with a crooked but slightly apprehensive grin.

"_Well I did bring a rather large doorbell." _Karrigan smirked as she indicated the sonic blaster she had up to now kept out of the way.

Kelly grinned "_Good one. I like your thinking."_ she looked around "I'm thinking you should aim it beside that pillar. I can use the toppled one beside it as cover and make the most of Riley and my turrets."

"_Right." _Karrigan nodded in approval "_You go get into cover and get set up. I'll go place the sonic blaster and set it up for ten minute activation. That enough for you?"_

"_Should be."_ Kelly replied as she sprinted over to the column.

Karrigan turned her attention to the sonic blaster setting it up quickly and adeptly "_Ok Kelly we are hot. Get your shit together." _she shouted across as she moved into cover across from Kelly, her assault rifle in hand.

"_My shit's together."_ Kelly grumbled as she looked at the two turrets she had set up, she then prepared her omnitool ready to fire Riley off in an instant and checking her power reserves to see if she would have enough to activate her incinerate power. She was reassured to see that she did. "_Ready. Ready."_ she yelled at Karrigan as she ducked into cover, hugging the ground tight.

As she spoke the sonic blaster sprang into life and started to emit deep pulsations down into the Tuchankan earth, it started slowly building up to a steady, rhythmic pattern. Karrigan, knowing that Kelly would no longer be able to hear her, activated her coms "_Ok Kelly here we go."_ she placed her assault rifle down and pulled out a rocket launcher.

Kelly glanced over at her fleetingly "_Seriously? You have an RPG? You sure as hell better be a good aim. I am NOT ending up as splatter."_

Karrigan laughed "_No turning you into splatter. Check. But you know me...I do like a big explosion." _The earth began to vibrate "_Hey Kelly you feeling that too?"_

"_Oh yeah that Maw is on his way."_

"_Shit. I hope there's only one."_ Karrigan muttered as the vibrations increased.

"_Bit late to be worrying about that."_ Kelly said back as the tremors increased even more.

"_Hey Kelly we've definitely got company!"_ Karrigan said, a wicked grin on her face as a Maw suddenly burst up from the ground raining debris down on them both.

"_Oh shit...so we do."_ said Kelly as she covered her head to protect it from the falling earth and rocks.


End file.
